Auction 92 Part 2 Rare and Important Manuscripts and Items of the Gross Family Collection

Decorated Manuscript – Kabbalistic Siddur – 1734 – Illustrated Title Page – LaMenatze'ach Menorah – Original, Decorated Leather Binding

Opening: $12,000
Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000
Sold for: $27,500
Including buyer's premium

Decorated manuscript, Tefillot Yesharot – kabbalistic siddur, with kavanot of the Arizal and kabbalistic practices – for weekdays, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah and Purim. [Turkey or another place in the region], 1734.
Complete, particularly beautiful and impressive manuscript, in a design reminiscent of Islamic prayer books. The title page is decorated with cartouches and floral ornaments in green, blue and gold. Each page of the manuscript is framed in a rectangular, gilt border, and contains the text of the prayers scribed in cursive Oriental script, with initial words and certain words in square script. Headings and other notes outside the border. Floral and foliate ornaments in several places. Original, leather covered binding, with gilt and red ornaments, also typical of Islamic prayer books. Several blank leaves interspersed in the manuscript, for inserting additional prayers.
Folded plate before the title page, with a gilt illustration of a LaMenatze'ach Menorah, including notes of its segulot. Inscription on verso: "This was the form of the menorah". A prayer to be recited "after the Menorah" is inscribed on the preceding page.
The illustrated title page states the title of the book, and the date of its completion: 11th Av 1734.
The text of the siddur includes many kabbalistic kavanot, prayers and practices, occasionally inserted by the writer in "windows" within the text.
See Hebrew description for partial list of contents of the manuscript.
Statement of the completion of the manuscript on the final page. Familial inscriptions in Ladino on the back endpaper, dated 1911-1925.


[225] leaves. Approx. 16 cm. Good condition. High-quality paper. Stains. Minor wear. Marginal ink stains (not affecting text). Original gilt-decorated binding, with minor blemishes; spine repaired.


Provenance:
1. Sotheby's Tel Aviv, 5 October 1984, lot 170.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, OT.011.010.

Illustrated and Decorated Manuscripts – Sepharadic Lands
Illustrated and Decorated Manuscripts – Sepharadic Lands