A Magnificent Micrographic Omer Calendar [by Tzvi Hirsch son of David, Amsterdam,] 1800

Leila Avrin. Micrography as Art, Paris: Centre national de la
recherche scientifique; Jerusalem: Israel Museum, Department of
Judaica, 1981.

Micrography, the scribal practice of utilizing minuscule script to create abstract shapes or figurative designs, is an art form that has been used by Jews for over a millennium.  Much of the earliest micrography is found in biblical codices where scribes fashioned the masorah into floral motifs and intricate geometric designs. With the advent of printing and the ensuing decline in hand-written books, scribes continued to practice the art of micrography in other formats including marriage contracts and decorative plaques.

This omer calendar was used to fulfill the biblical commandment to enumerate each of the 49 days in the seven-week period between Passover and Shavuot.  The present lot, meticulously crafted with extraordinary precision, ranks among the finest exemplars of this genre from this period.  The delicate micrographic interlacing forms an outer border of circles and lozenges and an inner border of interlocking diamonds. Between the borders are graceful floral motifs, and in each corner, a grazing deer. These elements comprise the complete texts of the Five Megillot (Song of Songs, Esther, Ruth, Ecclesiastes and Lamentations).  Within the borders, a chain of 49 alternating squares and circles represent the days of the omer. The elaborate central decorative panel is a stylized plan of the Temple in Jerusalem detailed with images of the temple instruments.  A variety of additional blessings, prayers, and biblical readings ensure that in some form or fashion this plaque can be associated with the observance of each of the Jewish holidays in the annual calendar, making it a virtual map of the entire Jewish year.

Recently, scholars have located and identified an extraordinary group of seven magnificent micrographic plaques in public and private collections that were all created in the same unique style by Tzvi Hirsch ben David, who affixed his name to two of them.  From those of the plaques that are dated, we can ascertain that this remarkable artisan produced his micrographic masterpieces in Amsterdam between 1800 and 1823 and that this Omer Calendar is his earliest known work.  Six of the plaques are Omer calendars and the seventh is a presentation piece written in honor of the coronation of Willem I, King of the Netherlands.  Tzvi Hirsch was justifiably proud of his artistic accomplishments and on three of these plaques (including the present example) he has included prominent images of deer in each of the corners as a visual allusion to his name, Tzvi, the Hebrew word for deer.