Esther Scroll [Spain: 14th-15th century]

1 scroll (6 1/2 x 90 1/8 in.; 166 x 2290 mm). Written in brown ink, on 3 parchment membranes sewn together with sinew, in a Sephardic square Hebrew script without tagin; 19 columns; 18 lines per column; blind ruled; mounted on a wooden roller (height: 8 1/4 in; 210 mm) with tapering terminals. Opening column worn and slightly defective with loss of  some text; edges darkened throughout, especially at beginning; some ink flaking; a few instances of later repair to individual words or letters; occasional stains; some creasing.

The reading of the biblical book of Esther—from a scroll—is the primary commandment related to the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the miraculous victory of the Jews, in ancient Persia, over their oppressors, when the Jews, led by Queen Esther and her kinsman Mordecai, triumphed over the evil vizier, Haman. The ancient tradition of writing this work in scroll format remains in effect to this day and among Jews, the book of Esther is commonly referred to as a megillah, a Hebrew. The dating and localizing of Esther scrolls is, for the most part based on paleography, the study of different scripts, and codicology, the physical characteristics of a given book or scroll. In this case, the use of a classic Sephardic script and the distinctive light brown ink typically used by Hebrew scribes in Spain and Portugal are among the factors that have led scholars to conclude that this scroll emanates from the Iberian Peninsula. In light of the expulsions of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497, the survival of any Hebrew text from this period is exceptionally rare.

A report by Shlomo Zucker, further detailing the characteristics of this scroll, is available upon request.