MEGILATH ESTHER.

Cologne, 1843

Complete Esther Scroll entirely engraved on vellum. Composed on two membranes in eleven columns with additional introductory column entitled: “Megilath Esther im Zichron Todah.” Columns of text within floriated borders; introductory column with depictions of the characters that populate the Purim story. Composed by Tueringer the Scribe and dedicated to David Loewe Elkin. Housed in contemporary metal tube. Signature at end. 5.5 x 33.5 inches.

Of exceptional rarity. Another copy of this exquisite engraved Esther Scroll is in the collection of the Jewish Museum, London. The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary also has a copy, however it has been cut into 11 leaves and pasted into a book. Few engraved Esther scrolls exist. The Hungarian artist Mordechai Donath created one in Nitra a decade prior to the present Cologne example. See I. Benoschofsky and A. Scheiber, The Jewish Museum of Budapest (1987) no. 203.