Bidspirit auction | Large-Format Esther Scroll with Sheet

Large-Format Esther Scroll with Sheet of Blessings – Italy, 1731 – Coat-of-Arms of the Perugia Family - Esther scroll with attached sheet of blessings. Italy, inscription dated 5491 [1731]. Ink and paint on parchment; turned wood. Large-format Esther scroll, written on 4 sheets of parchment sewn together, 13 columns of text, mostly 25 lines per column. Enclosed with the scroll is a matching sheet with blessings over the Megillah reading, as well as the piyyut ”Korei Megillah”, by the renowned 12th-century Biblical commentator and philosopher, R. Abraham ibn Ezra. The sheet of blessings is illuminated with colorful illustrations and with vegetal patterns. At the top center of the sheet is the heraldic coat-of-arms of the Perugia family: a pair of rampant lions with a crown between them, which they grasp with their paws. In the emblem’s bottom margin is a handwritten ownership inscription (Hebrew): ”This scroll belongs to Eliyah / Aharon Perugia, may his Rock protect and keep him, year 5491 [1731]”. Wound around a wooden handle. Height of parchment sheets: 29 cm. Fair-good condition. Minor stains, small holes, creases, and tears, mostly to first sheet. Open tears to edges and ends of second sheet. Numerous unraveled stitches to sewing between third and fourth sheets. Fourth sheet made of thicker parchment, inscribed with different lettering and in a different hue of ink. Sheet of blessings: 50X28 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, numerous creases, and several small holes. Length of scroll handle: 48 cm. Overall good condition. Minor blemishes. Top ornament missing. Provenance: Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim of Radin, rare Judaica books, manuscripts, letters and objects of art, Judaica auction at Congregation Gvul Yaabetz, May 10, 1987 (illustrated on cover).