An Important Illuminated Haggadah, [Calcutta, India]: 1868

85 pages (7 5/8 x 5 in.; 195 x 127 mm). Written in black ink on paper in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic, in square Hebrew script; instructions in semi-cursive Hebrew script. All pages with illuminated and colored ink borders; Opening pages heavily illuminated with shell gold and decorated in colored inks and gouache. Fourteen full color miniatures, each labeled in Hebrew script, depicting the component elements of the Seder, including two full page miniatures, one depicting the festival table and the second, a brilliantly illuminated rendition of the Seder plate and its ritual foods. Each page of text is set within a central panel ruled in gold, red, and blue within an elaborate floral gilt frame; though some pages framed in silver. Later pagination in pencil. Lightly browned; lightly stained, as expected. A few leaves with marginal tears or chipping. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Supralibros on upper board. Original gilt paneled crimson morocco, extra gilt; lightly soiled; minor losses to spine. Rubbed.

Sassoon Ezekiel Judah--commissioned the manuscript as a gift for his son, 1868;
Ezekiel ben Sassoon Ezekiel Judah, received as a gift from his father, 1868;
David Solomon Sassoon--his manuscript before 1932: See Ohel David, Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London, 1932. Vol. I, p. 234; no. 363.
Acquired by the present owner in our Zurich rooms: 5 Nov 1975, Thirty-Eight Highly Important Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts from the Collection Formed by the Late David Solomon Sassoon, lot 13.

David Solomon Sassoon. See Ohel David, Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London, 1932. Vol. I, p. 234; no. 363. 

THE ONLY KNOWN ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT HAGGADAH FROM INDIA;
FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF DAVID SOLOMON SASSOON

Sassoon Ezekiel Judah was the scion of one of the important families of merchant-traders, originally from Baghdad, who formed the nucleus of the Jewish community in India. These great merchant families traveled widely across the Near East and Asia in the making of their fortunes but it was upon the Indian sub-Continent that they truly thrived, not only economically, but also religiously. Indeed, Sassoon’s father, Ezekiel Judah, was the founder of the Beth El synagogue in Calcutta. These wealthy Calcutta Jews continuously strove to maintain a balance between embracing the European culture that characterized the mostly British elite upper class to which they aspired, and a steadfast fidelity to their ancestral faith and traditions.

The present manuscript is an exquisite example of the success at striking that balance. Written at the behest of Sassoon Ezekiel Judah for the use of his eight year old son Ezekiel, the production of such a lavishly illuminated manuscript for such a young child is a striking symbol of the family's deep reverence for the traditional Jewish way of life, as well as an indicator of their material success. The entire text is translated into Judeo-Arabic, the vernacular language of the Baghdadi Jewish communities in India, thus assuring that young Master Ezekiel would be able to understand the meanings of the festival rituals, liturgy, and hymns inscribed on the illuminated pages of his very own Haggadah. 

The opening two pages are sumptuously illuminated with precious shell gold and decorated in colored inks and gouache. They give the date of the Haggadah’s creation and allude to Sassoon Ezekiel Judah as the patron of the manuscript. A dozen full-color miniatures depict the component elements of the Seder, individually labeled in Hebrew script; within each illustration, a disembodied hand or hands performs the corresponding action called for in the text. In two of the images, the hands seem to emanate from a symbolic representation of a building, suggesting the participation in the Passover ritual of all the members of the household. The intentional avoidance of full figural human representation is attributable to the Islamic iconoclastic traditions which held sway in the family’s native Baghdad. Two additional, full-page miniatures portray the festival table and a brilliantly illuminated rendition of the Seder plate and its ritual foods. Every page of text is set within a central panel ruled in gold, red, and blue within an elaborate floral gilt frame; for variety, some pages were framed in silver, rather than gold. The original crimson binding is heavily gilded on both its front and back covers, and embellished with the young owner’s name, proudly printed in golden Hebrew letters.

The text of the Passover liturgy is meticulously penned in a crisp, easily readable square Hebrew script, as are the words of the dedication pages, first read aloud by the eight year old boy who received this volume as gift in 1868:

“Behold this haggadah, beloved, cherished, precious and honored, belongs to me, the youthful, Ezekiel, son of Sassoon Ezekiel Judah. May God grant that I merit to delve within it, to perform its precepts, and read within it, each and every year, in the presence of my father and mother, in great joy and gladness, until the arrival of the redeemer to Israel and Judah.”