Esther Scroll with engraved decoration by Shalom Italia (Salomo d'Italia). [Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ca. 1641-1650].
Engraving, ink and color on parchment.
Esther scroll, written in Sephardic Stam script, on three parchment sheets sewn together, 18 circular engraved frames (six frames per sheet), 19 columns of text, 22-25 lines per column. The 16th frame contains two columns of text: names of the Ten Sons of Haman in one column, aligned to the right, and an additional text column to the left. Remnants of hand-coloring are visible, mainly along the lower margins and in some of the vegetal ornaments between the frames, in green and red, with some traces of blue and yellow.
Decorations
The scroll is decorated throughout with high-quality engravings, whose principal motifs include vegetal ornament and animals. Owing to these motifs, this type of Esther scroll is known as the "Lion, Lamb, and Bear" type (another designation for this group is the Roundel type). Each parchment sheet, as noted, contains six empty circular frames (for the text), surrounded by dense repeating ornaments, which include three large animals – lion, lamb and bear – positioned at the top of each frame, as well as vases with large, lush floral bouquets set atop architectural columns, additional vegetal motifs, and a variety of animals integrated among the ornaments: birds, rabbits, lion heads, fish (?), dragonflies, bees and snails.
In addition, at the bottom of each circular engraved frame appears a rectangular miniature depicting a narrative scene from the Esther story, enclosed within a Baroque-style ornamental frame (one scene – Haman leading Mordechai on horseback – appears twice, in columns 11 and 13).
At the beginning of the first parchment sheet – preceding the text frames – appears an initial ornament featuring a symmetrical chain of birds, scrolling foliage and two pomegranates, alongside a figure of an upright monkey standing on the back of a large cat, holding a sword resting on his thigh in one hand and, in the other, a tall pole bearing a flag with the artist's engraved signature: "[By] Shalom [I]talia" (the letters alef and lamed appear as a ligature).
The Artist and His Oeuvre
Shalom ben Mordechai Italia (Salomo d'Italia – of Italy; born 1618/19, died after 1664) is regarded as one of the most important and prolific Jewish artists active in Europe in the 17th century. As his name indicates, he was born in Italy, in the city of Mantua, and apparently arrived in Amsterdam in 1641 or shortly before. His full name is known from his signature on a hand-illustrated Esther scroll he produced in 1644, signed "Shalom son of R. Mordechai d'Italia".
Italia was an engraver, and because he habitually signed his works it is possible to reconstruct his rich oeuvre. In an article by Mordechai Narkiss devoted to Italia's art (1956), 18 works are listed, including six types of engraved Esther scrolls, an engraved ketubah, ten single-sheet engravings (portraits, biblical illustrations and others), and a hand-illustrated Esther scroll. The present scroll is no. 3 in Narkiss' list and is classified as one of Italia's earliest works. In addition to the works documented by Narkiss, several further works by Italia have come to light over the years, including another type of Esther scroll (known as the Butterfly type) and several hand-illustrated Esther scrolls attributed to him.
Parallels
Only six or seven additional copies of this type of Esther scroll are known, most of them in public collections: Jewish Museum, Amsterdam (M000432); Cologne City Museum (Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, RML 2); Library of Geneva (MS heb. 4); Israel Museum, Jerusalem (182/60); a private collection in Zurich; a copy sold at Christie's, Amsterdam, June 19, 1991, Lot 477 (possibly identical with the Zurich private collection copy); and a copy sold at Sotheby's, New York, November 24, 2009, Lot 168.
The Jewish Museum, Amsterdam, dates its scroll to 1650. The Library of Geneva copy was the subject of a dedicated article by Justine Isserles, in which all known copies of this scroll type were documented (see bibliography). The present copy has not previously been studied or published.
The present copy is very similar, in terms of script style (and the arrangement of the column of the Ten Sons of Haman), to the scroll in the Jewish Museum, Amsterdam, and to the scroll sold at Christie's Amsterdam in 1991; it is therefore highly likely that all three were written by the same scribe.
Height: 12-12.5 cm. Length of scroll: 176.5 cm. Overall good condition. Creases and minor tears to margins, professionally restored. Dark stains and wear to beginning of first parchment sheet; tears in this area, with minor loss to opening ornament. Seams joining sheets somewhat loose. Stains and creases to end of final sheet (formerly sewn to a roller). Variation in parchment height of third sheet. Housed in new leather-covered case.
Reference:
• Sharon Assaf and Emily D. Bilski, The Triumph of Identity: Salom Italia's Esther Scrolls and the Dutch Golden Age, Amsterdam: Joods Historisch Museum, Menasseh ben Israel Instituut, 2011.
• Justine Isserles, "The Particular Case of an Engraved Esther Scroll Attributed to Shalom Italia", From Cairo to Amsterdam: Hebrew Scrolls from the 11th to the 18th Centuries, eds. E. Abate and J. Isserles, Henoch, 43/1 (2021), pp. 229-254.
• Mordechai Narkiss, "Yeẓurato shel Shalom ben rabbi Mordechai Italia (1619-1655?)" [The Oeuvre of the Jewish Engraver Salom Italia (1619-1655?)], Tarbiẓ, 25 (1956), pp. 441-451; Tarbiẓ, 26 (1956), pp. 87-101, with English summary, pp. v-viii.
• Shalom Sabar, "A New Discovery: The Earliest Illustrated Esther Scroll by Shalom Italia", Ars Judaica, 8, 2012.
