Select manuscript from this collection: B26  K40 K44  S102  59/107

Country of Location:
Country of Location
Switzerland
Location:
Location
Zürich
Library / Collection:
Library / Collection
Braginsky Collection
Shelfmark:
Shelfmark
K41
Manuscript Title:
Manuscript Title
Ketubah (כתובה), Rome, 22 Sivan 5558 (6 June 1798)
Caption:
Caption
Parchment · 1 f. · 74 x 45.8 cm · Rome · 1798
Language:
Language
Hebrew
Manuscript Summary:
Manuscript Summary
The ornamentation of this ketubah, which commemorates a wedding between two important families of the Roman ghetto, Toscano and Di Segni, reflects the golden age of ketubah decoration in Rome. The decorative frame is divided into inner and outer borders. Panels adorned with flowers on painted gold fields flank the sides of the text. In the outer frames, crisscrossed micrographic inscriptions form diamond-shaped spaces, each of which contains a large flower. The design in the inner and the outer frames are surrounded by minuscule square Hebrew letters, presenting the entire four chapters of the book of Ruth. (red)
DOI (Digital Object Identifier):
DOI (Digital Object Identifier
10.5076/e-codices-bc-k-0041 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5076/e-codices-bc-k-0041)
Permanent link:
Permanent link
https://e-codices.ch/en/list/one/bc/k-0041
IIIF Manifest URL:
IIIF Manifest URL
IIIF Drag-n-drop https://e-codices.ch/metadata/iiif/bc-k-0041/manifest.json
How to quote:
How to quote
Zürich, Braginsky Collection, K41: Ketubah (כתובה), Rome, 22 Sivan 5558 (6 June 1798) (https://e-codices.ch/en/list/one/bc/k-0041).
Online Since:
Online Since
03/22/2017
External resources:
External resources
Rights:
Rights
Images:
(Concerning all other rights see each manuscript description and our Terms of use)
Document Type:
Document Type
Document
Century:
Century
18th century
Dated:
Dated
1798
Decoration:
Decoration
Full Page, Fully Painted, Initial, Ornamental
Liturgica hebraica:
Liturgica hebraica
Ketubbah
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e-codices · 01/25/2017, 18:25:06

This ketubbah commemorates a wedding between two important families of the Roman ghetto, Toscano and Di Segni. The members of the former
were leading bankers who had become the wealthiest Jews in the ghetto in the seventeenth century. Their arrival from Florence in Tuscany is reflected in
their name. In keeping with their exalted status, the ketubbot of the daughters of this family document exceptionally high dowries for this period. Although
the wealth of the family members had declined by the time the present ketubbah was created, they continued to invest in the production of attractively
decorated contracts. The sumptuous ketubbah of Rebecca Toscano, the bridegroom’s sister, which is preserved in the National Library, Jerusalem is
noteworthy as well.
The ornamentation of this contract reflects the golden age of ketubbah decoration in Rome. Rather than concentrating on visual motifs, the design focused on elaborate Hebrew calligraphy. The work of a skillful scribe, the many texts that fill the page are written in square Hebrew letters of varying sizes. The decorative frame is divided into inner and outer borders. Panels adorned with flowers on painted gold fields flank the sides of the text. In the outer frames, crisscrossed micrographic inscriptions form diamond-shaped spaces, each of which contains a large flower.
The designs in the inner and outer frames are surrounded by minuscule, square Hebrew letters, presenting the entire four chapters of the book of Ruth. Micrography, the technique of utilizing minute Hebrew letters to form representational or geometric designs, is found in the earliest extant decorated Hebrew manuscripts of the ninth century. While in other eighteenth-century Roman ketubbot brief sections of the Five Scrolls were sometimes included, inscribing the entire text of one of them, as was done here, was uncommon. Perhaps the book of Ruth was selected because the wedding took place in the month of Sivan, when this book is read in the synagogue during the Shavuot holiday. Another reason may be related to its contents with the central wedding story of Ruth and Boaz, which is quoted on many ketubbot, including this one. Moreover, the scribe planned the micography of the book of Ruth so that the wedding section appears
directly above the column of the ketubbah text.

A Journey through Jewish Worlds. Highlights from the Braginsky collection of Hebrew manuscripts and printed books, hrsg. E. M. Cohen, S. L. Mintz, E. G. L. Schrijver, Amsterdam, 2009, p. 196.

e-codices · 01/25/2017, 18:22:26

Diese Ketubba erinnert an die Verbindung zweier bedeutender Familien des römischen Ghettos, den Toscano und den Di Segni. Die Toscano – wie der Name nahelegt, wohl aus Florenz zugewandert – hatten im 17. Jahrhundert führende Positionen im Bankgeschäft erlangt und waren damals die wohlhabendsten Juden im Ghetto. In der National Library of Israel wird auch die Ketubba von Rebekka verwahrt, der Schwester der Braut Esther Di Segni. Die ungewöhnlich hohen Mitgiftsummen in beiden Ketubbot bezeugen das nach wie vor exorbitant grosse Vermögen der Familie Di Segni, auch wenn ihr Reichtum bereits im Schwinden begriffen war.
Die Ausschmückung widerspiegelt die grosse Kunstfertigkeit der römischen Ketubbot-Schöpfer. Die Gestaltung ist ganz auf die kalligrafischen Elemente, die Verzierungen mit Blumenmotiven und die feinen Farbabstimmungen konzentriert. Im inneren Rahmen erscheinen Blumenzweige auf goldenem Grund, im äusseren entfalten sie sich zu kristallähnlichen Mustern.
Der Künstler, der zugleich ein geübter Schreiber war, führte die Texte in hebräischer Quadratschrift aus, wobei ihm die mikrografischen Textzeilen zugleich als geometrisierende Linien der ornamentalen Struktur dienten. Die schmückende Mikroschrift enthält das gesamte Buch Ruth. Vielleicht fiel die Wahl darauf, weil die Hochzeit im Monat Siwan stattfand, in dem das Buch Ruth während des Schawuot-Festes in der Synagoge gelesen wird. Ein anderer Grund könnte sein, dass diese biblische Geschichte in der Hochzeit von Ruth und Boas gipfelt. Die entsprechende Passage ist kaum zufällig in der Zeile oberhalb des Vertragstexts platziert.

Schöne Seiten. Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection, Hrsg. von Emile Schrijver und Falk Wiesemann, Zürich 2011, S. 200.

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A Journey through Jewish Worlds. Highlights from the Braginsky collection of Hebrew manuscripts and printed books, hrsg. E. M. Cohen, S. L. Mintz, E. G. L. Schrijver, Amsterdam, 2009, p. 196.

Schöne Seiten. Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection, Hrsg. von Emile Schrijver und Falk Wiesemann, Zürich 2011, S. 200.

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