An Illustrated Esther Scroll, [Israel or Europe: ca. 1925]

Ink and gouache on parchment, (15 ¼ x 97 in.; 390 x 2464 mm). Text written in square Ashkenazic script arranged in 11 columns with 30 lines to a column. 4 membranes stitched together.

In this profusely illustrated megillah, scenes from the Esther story fill the entire length of the scroll. Painted in a bright palette of colors, the dramatic biblical account unfolds in 22 panels above and below the text. The scroll is further ornamented with vibrant floral columns set between each of the text panels. The design and imagery represent an exceptionally fine example of the work of artists who were active in the Land of  Israel in the first decades of the twentieth century. The new aesthetic creativity reflected in this scroll was informed by the European traditions that various Jewish artists brought with them to the Holy Land and is an outstanding example of the marriage of liturgical objects and decorative art being produced in the Land of Israel in the early twentieth century. Another scroll by the same artist is currently in the Skirball Museum (Los Angeles); it is likely to have been part of the magnificent Judaica collection of the Berlin businessman, Salli Kirschstein (1869–1930) which was purchased by Hebrew Union College of Cincinnati in 1926 and later transferred to the Skirball Museum.