Passover Haggadah and Seder Sefirat HaOmer – Miniature Illuminated Manuscript on Parchment, 20th Century / ...

Passover Haggadah and Seder Sefirat HaOmer – Miniature Illuminated Manuscript on Parchment, 20th Century / Magnificent Silver Binding with the Fiorentini Family Crest – Rome, 19th Century

Passover Haggadah and Seder Sefirat HaOmer. Manuscript on parchment, work of scribe and illustrator Chaim Leib Beinhocker. Place and date not specified, [likely first half of the 20th century]. Bound in a magnificent silver binding, with the Fiorentini family crest. Rome, presumably 19th century (1815-1870).

Ink and paint on parchment; silk fabric; silver, repoussé and engraved (twice stamped with the emblem of Rome and a maker's mark – A70G (?) in a lozenge-shaped frame).

Manuscript on parchment. Miniature format. Written in black ink in Ashkenazi square script, without vocalization. All pages are framed in a rectangular border in pink ink. Accompanied by 87 color illustrations. Text: Leaves [1]-[55a] – Passover Haggadah; Leaves [55b]-[69a] – Seder Sefirat HaOmer.

The manuscript opens with an architectural title page featuring the figures of Moses and Aaron, where the names of the scribe and the patron for whom the manuscript was created appear: "Passover Haggadah / with fine illustrations / collected from / old Haggadot… I / the humble Chaim Leib / Beinhocker in honor of… Rabbi / Yekutiel Fischhof" (we were unable to identify these figures).

In addition to the illustration on the title page, 86 more color illustrations are integrated throughout the manuscript, depicting the Haggadah story as well as Lag BaOmer and Shavuot – most are miniatures (the smallest measures 4X2.5 cm, and the largest 8x5 cm) – as well as initial words adorned with gold, with tiny illustrations.

Although created during the 20th century, it appears that the creator of this manuscript was influenced by the tradition of 18th-century European illustrated manuscripts, especially those of the "Moravian School". However, while most 18th-century manuscripts base their illustrations on the "Amsterdam Haggadah" (Amsterdam, 1695), this manuscript's illustrations are based on the woodcuts of the "Venice Haggadah" first printed in Venice in 1609.

The silver binding is identically decorated on both sides with floral patterns centered around the Fiorentini family crest – a bent arm holding a wreath with three flowers – topped by a crown-shaped ornament. This family originated in Tuscany and has lived in Rome since the 16th century. Among its famous members are the poet Salomone Fiorentino, and several military figures who fought during the 19th and 20th centuries. For more information about this family, see: Elivo Giuditta, Araldica Ebraica in Italia. [Torino]: Società Italiana di Studi Araldici, 2007, p. 179.

For another binding by the same silversmith (dated ca. 1830), see: Sotheby's, December 20, 2017, Lot 80.

[69] leaves + [3] blank parchment leaves at the end of the volume. 9X6 cm. Overall good condition. Some stains. Creases in several leaves. Silver binding: 9.7 cm, with doublures covered in dark purple silk fabric (slightly frayed at the edges).

Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, December 19, 2012, Lot 125.