Over the more than 650 years that have passed since this manuscript of the Mishneh Torah was created, it has passed through many hands. Various annotations and citations indicate that important Ashkenazic rabbis hat access to the manuscript, for example Jakob Weil, a well-known 15th century scholar and rabbi in Nürnberg, Augsburg, Bamberg and Erfurt. Later notes of ownership make clear that the manuscript reached such distant places as the Ottoman Empire, England, Kurdistan and Jerusalem. The page 1021 of the Mischne Tora-manuscript presents a full-page illustration with decorated portal architecture in Gothic style. Two thin pillars, lengthened in Mannerist style, support a heavy tympanum, decorated with floral scrollwork on a blue background, in which gold letters spell out the chapter title Sefer schoftim (“Book of Judges”). There are five medallions, two of which show the silhouette of an attacking bird of prey. (red)

Online Since: 03/22/2017