This February in New York, Sotheby’s will offer for sale one of the most important illustrated Hebrew Prayerbooks to come to market: The Rothschild Vienna Mahzor. Dating to the early 15th century, this monumental High Holiday prayer book encapsulates both the refinement of medieval book arts and the fragility of Jewish life in Europe. Newly restituted, the manuscript bears a remarkable history of resilience and survival, reflecting the complex journeys of Jewish cultural treasures through centuries of upheaval.
The tradition of illustrated Hebrew prayerbooks first flourished in southern Germany in the mid-thirteenth century, with fewer than twenty examples known to survive today. Among these rare masterpieces, the Rothschild Vienna Mahzor stands out as one of only three known to remain in private hands. The historic Hebrew manuscript — created by a Jewish scribe-artist, superbly preserved, and distinguished by its exceptional provenance — ranks among the rarest of its kind, as just the second medieval illustrated mahzor to come to market in more than a century. Its appearance follows the landmark sale of the Luzzatto High Holiday Mahzor at Sotheby’s in 2021, which achieved $8.3 million and set a new auction record for an illustrated Hebrew manuscript.
The Mahzor takes its name from its celebrated 19th century owners, the renowned Rothschild banking family. Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (1774–1855) of the Viennese branch. The second son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, acquired the manuscript in 1842 in Nuremberg as a gift for his son, Anselm Salomon von Rothschild (1803–1874). Following Anselm Salomon’s death in 1874, the Mahzor was passed down through generations of the family — from Anselm Salomon to his son Nathaniel, and later to his nephew Alphonse Rothschild in 1906 — becoming part of the family’s extensive collection of exquisite art and objects.
Everything changed, however, with the Nazi Party’s rise to power. Following the Anschluss in March 1938, Nazi forces seized the Rothschild Palais in Vienna, the home of Alphonse von Rothschild and his wife, Clarice, both of whom were in England at the time. The residence and its contents were seized, stripping the family of legal ownership. The Rothschild art collection and library were subsequently inventoried at a storage facility before being dispersed — some works were allocated to museums, others entered the art market, but a small portion of the library, including the Mahzor, was sent directly to the Austrian National Library, where it went unrecognized as Nazi-looted property for decades. As a result, the Mahzor bore no markings of confiscation and was not subject to restitution immediately after World War II.
"While the wrongs of the past can never be undone, the restitution of this Mahzor carries deep meaning for our family as it stands as both an acknowledgment of history and a small measure of closure to a pain that has echoed through generations."
The Mahzor resurfaced to the public in 2021, when it was loaned by the Austrian National Library for an exhibition celebrating the legacy of the Viennese branch of the Rothschild family. Subsequently restituted to the descendants of Alphonse and Clarice Rothschild, the Rothschild Vienna Mahzor now comes to market with an estimate of $5-7 million.
Ahead of its sale in New York on 5 February the Rothschild Vienna Mahzor will be exhibited at Sotheby’s New York alongside the Important Judaica auction (11 – 16 December), Los Angeles (14 – 16 January) and then back to New York at Sotheby’s new global headquarters at the iconic Breuer building for Masters Week (30 January – 3 February).
