General

Title

The Magnificent Parchment - New York, Jewish Theological Seminary, MS K105

Manuscript name

היריעה המפוארת - כתב יד בית המדרש לרבנים באמריקה, ק-105

Summary

Jewish Theological Seminary Library MS K105 is a fragment of a very well-executed witness that belongs to a manuscript family of large rotuli ilanot to which we have given the name "The Magnificent Parchment." It was likely drafted in the sixteenth century by an Italian copyist, perhaps with some Byzantine background, according to the paleographical assessment of Dr. Emma Abate. Only one Magnificent Parchment (London, BL, MS Or. 6465 Scroll © The British Library Board) carries a colophon, dating it to 1556. The original Magnificent Parchment was likely crafted ca. 1500 in northern Italy. This family of "luxury" manuscripts is distinguished by its grand scale, its graphical richness, and its 33,000 word anthological text. The JTS K105 fragment preserves the uppermost parchment sheet of the original rotulus. In sefirotic terms, therefore, we see Keter through Binah of the central kabbalistic tree. Unlike other witnesses, K105 figures Ein Sof within a black crescent hovering above a regal crown that sits upon Keter; all others frame Ein Sof within an eye.

Layout

########

Support material

Parchment

Form

http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300028629

Identifier

MS K105

Alternative identifier

Repository

Jewish Theological Seminary Library

Country

http://ontologi.es/place/US

Settlement

New York

Dimensions

Measure

3 leaves

Width

49.0 cm

Height

62.0 cm

Creation time