An Exquisite Birth Amulet on Parchment [Holland:18th Century]

David Wachtel, "Amulets," Kabbalah: Mysticism in Jewish Life,  New York: 2003. (p.42-3).; Iris Fishof, Written in the Stars: Art and Symbolism of the Zodiac, Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 2001.; L. Fuks and R.G. Fuks-Mansfeld, Hebrew and Judaic Manuscripts in Amsterdam Public Collections, I, Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, Leiden: Brill, 1973. # 227 (p.108).

The Talmudic term for amulet is kame'a, derived from a root whose meaning is either "to bind" or "to hang," clearly indicating that an amulet is either bound to or hung on the person or object it protects. While amulets were employed against a wide variety of ills, a majority of amulets seem to deal with protecting expectant mothers and newborn children.  Without the modern medical knowledge and technology that make childbirth an almost routine procedure in this day and age, every birth represented a very real risk of death to both mother and child. 

Jewish birth amulets are designed to counter the effects of evil spirits, and in particular the demon named Lilith, believed to cause pregnant women to miscarry and strangle newborn infants.  According to midrashic literature, Adam's first wife was not Eve but a woman named Lilith.  Only after Lilith rebelled and abandoned Adam did God create Eve, as a replacement. In response to Adam's initial request to retrieve Lilith, God sent three angels, named Sanoi, Sansanoi, and Semangelof, to find her.  The three angels threatened her with the death of one hundred of her sons every day that she did not return to Adam.  Although she refused to rejoin Adam, she agreed that she would not harm any infant wearing an amulet with the images and/or names of the three angels on it.

As a result of the prevalence of this belief in popular Jewish culture, many amulets bearing these three angelic names were created to ward off the potential evil that could attend the birth of a child.  These sometimes took the form of wall hangings or plaques, such as the present lot, designed to be hung in the birthing room or placed on or near the child's bed. In our amulet the names of the three angels flank the top of the central Star of David.  

This manuscript birth amulet is an exceptionally fine example of the detail work accomplished by a handful of master artist-scribes in Northern Europe during the eighteenth century.  As a part of the decorative program, the artist-scribe has included a series of twelve roundels, each labeled with the name of a Hebrew month. Within each roundel is an illustration of a Sign of the Zodiac, the pictographic symbol associated with each sign as well as a vignette depicting one of the Labors of the Months. The Labors of the Month reflect agricultural work or seasonal activities, and are often associated with zodiacal imagery in illustrated Hebrew books and manuscripts.