Esther scroll, written and illustrated by Moshe Yechiel Feigenblum. Buenos Aires, [1944].

Ink and color on parchment; turned wood.

Artistically executed Esther scroll, comprising nine parchment sheets, sewn one to the other. Unlike standard Esther scrolls, this scroll opens with an introductory panel serving as a title page, featuring the title, the artist’s name, and the place and year of production, followed by 36 columns: ten contain illustrations only (on a yellowish background, signed with initials), seven combine text and illustrations, and the remainder contain only text.

Housed in its original carved wooden case, with handle.

Moshe Yechiel Feigenblum was active in Buenos Aires, Argentina from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. His works exhibit the influence of Russian avant-garde art. This influence is particularly evident in his illustrations for I. L. Peretz’s Hasidic tales (Drei Chassidische Dertzeilungen, Buenos Aires, 1949), where the impact of El Lissitzky’s style is most pronounced. This influence is also discernible in the present scroll, especially in its echoes of Lissitzky’s illustrations for Sihas Chullin (Moscow, 1917).

Another known manuscript by Feigenblum – a Passover Haggadah, also on parchment (Buenos Aires, 1939, NLI Ms. Heb. 669=4) – was illuminated in a markedly different style, inspired by medieval Hebrew manuscripts, underscoring the artist's stylistic versatility.

Height of parchment: 9.8 cm. Overall good condition. Some creases, mainly to beginning of the first sheet and end of final sheet. Minor stains at the beginning of the first sheet. Possibly missing a clasp at the beginning of the scroll. Height of case (including handle): 29.5 cm. Good condition.