Difference between revisions of "Pigs in the Tripartite Mahzor"
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| − | [[ | + | [[[http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/en/ms384/ms384-coll1.htm Tripartite Mahzor vol.1]|thumb|Prayer for dew illustrated with the zodiac signs of Twins and Cancer together with the labors of months of Sivan and Tammuz , Germany, Lake Constance, ca.1320; Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Kaufmann Collection, MS Kaufmann A384, fol.143a'']] |
Revision as of 08:49, 29 January 2009
[[Tripartite Mahzor vol.1|thumb|Prayer for dew illustrated with the zodiac signs of Twins and Cancer together with the labors of months of Sivan and Tammuz , Germany, Lake Constance, ca.1320; Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Kaufmann Collection, MS Kaufmann A384, fol.143a]]
The Tripartite Mahzor
The Tripartite Mahzor is a fourteenth-century [Ashkenazi] prayerbook divided into three parts. The first part is preserved in Budapest, in the [Kaufmann collection] of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MS A384). It contains prayers and piyyuts for the special Shabbats, Purim, Pesah (Passover), and the Song of Songs. The second part (London, British Library Add. Ms. 22413) contains prayers and piyyuts for Shavuot, the Book of Ruth, Sukkot and the Book of Ecclesiastes. In the third volume (Oxford, Bodleian Library Ms. Michael 619) there are prayers and piyyuts for Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. While the size of the codices is different, the size of the text areas and the style of the illuminations are the same. Therefore, the three volumes probably originally constituted a one- or two-volume codex, which began with Rosh ha-Shanah and ended with Shavuot. It may have been cut and divided into three parts some time later. None of the volumes has a colophon. The only name given is that of the scribe. He was a certain Hayyim. His name is written at the end of the commentary to Ruth (“חיים חזק”, vol.2, fol. 80v), and this word is decorated in the text in another page of the same volume (fol.103v). A certain scribe Hayyim (חיים סופר) also copied the so-called Schocken Bible (Southern Germany, c.1300; Jerusalem, Schocken Library, Ms.14840), and two close stylistic relatives of the Tripartite Mahzor: the Pentateuch of the Duke of Sussex (Southern Germany; London, British Library, Add. Ms 15282) and the Sefer Mitzvot Katan (Lake Constance Region, probably Konstanz, ca.1310; Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod. Heb. 75).
The digitalized version of the manuscript is available online.
The zodiac sign of Crab
In the first volume, the prayer for dew is decorated with zodiac signs and the labors of the months (fols.142r-145v). This image depicts the Crab (סרטן)together with the labor of month [Tammuz]. The crab is portrayed here as a strange hybrid created from the limbs different animals: its body is that of a roar, its legs are those of a frog, and its tail is a fish.
Bibliography
Fishof, Iris, ed. Written in the Stars; Art and Symbolism of the Zodiac. Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 2001.
Narkiss, Bezalel. „A Tripartite Illuminated Mahzor from a South German School of Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts around 1300.” In Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies Papers, , Vol 2. Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies, 1968.
Ormos, István. Kaufmann Dávid és gyűjteménye. Különnyomat az Örökségünk, Élő Múltunk. Gyűjtemények a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Könyvtárában című kötetből (Dávid Kaufmann and his Collection. Extract from Our Heritage, Our Living Past. Collections in the Library of the Academy of Sciences). Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Könyvtára, 2001.
