MINIATURE TORAH SCROLL, [ASHKENAZ: LATE 19TH CENTURY]

MINIATURE TORAH SCROLL, [ASHKENAZ: LATE 19TH CENTURY]

Scroll of 55 membranes (8 1/8 in. x approx. 78 1/4 ft.; 208 mm x approx. 23 3/4 m) made of parchment; written in Ashkenazic Beit yosef script in dark brown ink with three to eight columns per membrane (membrane widths ranging from approx. 10 3/4 to 30 1/4 in.; 275 to 770 mm) (total: 248 columns) and forty-two lines per column; some small later corrections throughout; horizontally and vertically ruled in hardpoint on the recto; prickings visible along upper and lower edges; justification of lines via dilation or contraction of final letters (average justification: 6 3/4 x 3 1/4 in.; 171 x 85 mm). The Songs of the Sea (Ex. 15:1-19) and of Moses (Deut. 32:1-43) are laid out to look like brickwork (ariah al gabbei levenah and ariah al gabbei ariah, respectively); a variant of the custom of vavei ha-ammudim is observed (see the first column on membranes 30 [shenei ha-se‘irim], 50 [shemor ve-shama‘ta], and 53 [motsa sefatekha]); one scribe-corrector’s stamp at start of first membrane and two at end of last membrane (the identifiable one belonged to David Isaac Levin of 44 Hester Street, New York). Slight scattered staining or soiling; some margins translucent; small tear at head at start of membrane 2; creasing on membrane 42; minor repair at foot at end of membrane 42; sinews connecting membranes 49-50 beginning to loosen. Mounted on modern embellished silver rollers, each surmounted by a crown; accompanied by a crimson Torah mantle with golden fringes (embroidered with Hebrew dedications below a pair of lions rampant supporting the Tablets of the Law, surmounted by a crown), somewhat worn.