A Fine Illustrated Esther Scroll, Shalom Italia, [Amsterdam, ca. 1641]

Ink on parchment (5 ½ x 185 in.; 140 x 4700 mm). Text written in square Hebrew script; arranged in 56 columns with 14 lines to a column on seven membranes stitched together. Typical wear particularly in the opening and final panels, top portion of the upper border replaced in facsimile along the length of the entire scroll.  Mounted on a carved wooden roller.

M. Narkiss, "The Oeuvre of Salom ben Mordechai Italia"  in Tarbiz, vol. 25, pp. 441-451 especially no. 5 (p. 447); ibid. vol. 26, pp. 87-101; N. Kleeblat & V. B. Mann (ed.), Treasures of the Jewish Museum, New York; 1986 pp. 64-65.

This illustrated scroll was designed by the renowned seventeenth-century Jewish artist Shalom Italia. Shalom was born in Mantua in 1619 and archival documents indicate that he had settled in Amsterdam by 1641. While in Amsterdam, Shalom created a remarkable series of copperplate borders to embellish megillot. His innovative designs would have an unprecedented influence on the subsequent decoration and illustration of Esther scrolls throughout Europe.

Shalom's  work is characterized by the motifs of triumphal arches, depictions of the central characters of the Purim story between the text columns as well as an array of flora and fauna, and classical ornamentation such as garlands and urns.

The scroll opens with an elaborate introductory panel featuring a double cartouche flanked by two angels and surmounted by a plumed helmet. The cartouches are inscribed with the blessings recited before the megillah is read. The artist's printed signature, Salmon Italia sculp, is set in a banderole below the cartouches. The columns of text are penned within an arcade frame topped by a broken pediment and adorned with profile masks facing a floral vase. Above each pediment is a pair of gracefully reclining women in classical garb, holding palm fronds. This imagery, a symbol of victory, may allude to the triumph of the Persian Jews over their enemy Haman. Beneath the full-length images of Ahasuerus, Esther, Mordechai and Haman are a series of miniature landscapes.

This scroll is an exquisite example of the marriage of liturgical functionality and the artistic creativity of an unparalleled seventeenth-century artist.