MEGILATH ESTHER.

Cologne, 1843

Complete Esther Scroll entirely engraved, on vellum. Composed on two membranes set in eleven columns, 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 Esther story. Composed by Tueringer the Scribe and dedicated to David Loewe Elkin. Signature at end. Height: 5.5 inches. Housed in contemporary metal tube.

Most scarce. 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.