GRISELINI, FRANCESCO.

Venice, mid-18th century

Rare engraved decorative plaque for the Sukoth festival. Central Hebrew verse Hebrew verse (Psalms 76:13).Flanking are cartouche portraits of Moses and Aaron with their respective iconographic symbols. Along the perimeter are a series of vignettes (from left to right): The building of the Sukah, King Solomon at the Temple altar blessing the Jewish People (Kings 8:14), the Priests unable to minister due to the Cloud filling the Temple with God’s Glory (8:11), King Solomon spreading out his hands to Heaven (8:22) and a depiction of a Sukah. Below: The joyous Water Libation Ceremony performed each morning of Sukoth during the era of the Temple.

Venetian-born Griselini (1717-1787) produced engravings for a variety of subjects including maps, the natural sciences and literature. He illustrated borders for Esther Scrolls and designed Hebrew title-pages. The present Hebrew engraving depicts the connection between the holiday of Sukoth and the Temple service. See L. Greenspoon, The Book of Esther in Modern Research (2003) p. 147.