Engraved Esther Scroll. [Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 18th century].
Engravings and ink on parchment; wood and cardboard.
Esther scroll, inscribed in sepia-colored ink on 4 sheets of parchment glued one to the other; text of Book of Esther arranged in 16 columns, with 23-28 rows per column. Additional opening column. Tetragrammaton (4 letters of the Divine Name) highlighted in the eighth column. Opening column contains blessings over the reading of the Megillah.
The present scroll belongs to a group of Esther scrolls adorned with engravings, created in several different versions in Amsterdam throughout the 18th century. From among the known variations, the type represented by this particular scroll is the earliest; a copy of this type, part of the René Braginsky Collection, Zürich, has been dated to Hebrew year 5461 [1701].
This Esther Scroll is decorated with numerous high-quality engravings; eight of them, depicting scenes from the narrative of the Book of Esther, appear on the opening column; sixteen engravings adorning the lower margin of the textual columns also present scenes from the Esther story, some of them derived from Midrashic sources; and another sixteen engravings located above the textual columns include landscapes – in effect, a series of four landscape scenes, recurrently appearing four times; separating the textual columns are large architectonic columns, some adorned with putti angels holding fruit baskets on their heads; underneath each architectonic column, in the lower margin, is a large urn filled with fruits and flowers; these urns separate the scenes depicting the Esther narrative.
Height of parchment sheets: 17.5 cm. Length of scroll: 171 cm. Wrapped around wooden roller, probably original, with upper handle (bottom handle missing). Length of roller and upper handle: 32 cm. Scroll in good condition. Few stains and slight wear to parchment. Several words and letters erased and rewritten. Stains, wear, and tears to opening of the first parchment sheet. Piece of paper adhered to the outer edge of first sheet for reinforcement. Small holes in vertical margins of sheets suggest that they were originally sewn one to the other. Scroll housed in cylindrical cardboard case, somewhat more recent, with wear and tear.
Provenance: The Simon Brueckheimer Collection.
Simon Brueckheimer, born in Külsheim, Germany, in 1889. Moved to Marktbreit in 1911, and began serving there as an educator in 1920. In 1929 he initiated a project to document sacred objects and property of Bavarian Jewish communities, which he pursued during his vacation time as a teacher, under the auspices of the Union of Bavarian Jewish Communities (Verband Bayerischer Israelitischer Gemeinden). Brueckheimer escaped to Frankfurt in the heat of Kristallnacht, but was then arrested and sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. After six weeks he was released, returned to Marktbreit, and then emigrated with his family to London, where he continued his documentation project on Bavarian Jewry. In the course of his visits to small Bavarian Jewish communities and later, after moving to London, Brueckheimer succeeded in assembling a small collection of Jewish items, which he had acquired either during his visits to the towns themselves or from purchases from Jewish refugees escaping to England. The important items in his collection include a cup used for special dinners by the "Chevrah Kadisha" (Burial Society) of Schwabach, today part of the collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and a Torah Shield belonging to the community of Goßmannsdorf, sold at Kedem, Auction 106, 24 February 2026, Lot 14. His notes and listings – documenting 150 small Jewish communities throughout Bavaria – are kept in the archives of the Yad VaShem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Jerusalem. Brueckheimer passed away in England in 1950.
Several additional items from the Simon Brueckheimer Collection will be offered for sale at our upcoming public auctions. All proceeds from these sales will be donated.
