MEGILATH ESTHER.

19th-century

Complete Scroll of Esther accomplished in an Aschkenazic hand on vellum. Composed on five membranes set in 28 columns. With enchanting and whimsical decorative elements including tagin (or crowns), executed with flourishes and curls. First membrane backed by red silk, with red silk ribbon attached. Set on carved wooden roller.

Notable is the use of historiated initials of the Tetragrammaton within the megillah text: “The King and Haman came that day” - an astute maneuver in a text famously lacking God’s Name. An example of a creative device is the trope symbol that appears atop the Hebrew words “And they hanged Haman upon the tree” - above the Hebrew letters of “tree” is a pair of gallows. Other intricacies include tagin in the form of fleur-de-lis over the expression of “medina” or city-state; multi-branched flourishes (more elaborate than the traditional three), for example, the 24 flourishes above the name Shaashgaz, the royal official; Zeresh, Haman’s wife, use of the expression “thou shalt surely fall before him” with three letter “pheh” with exaggerated curlicue suggestive of Haman’s luck as a spiraling tailspin in sharp decline.