Language:
Hebrew
Pages:
21, 18 Seiten
Edition:
Faksimile
Keywords:
Lissabon
;
Bibel. Pentateuch
;
Handschrift
;
Illumination
Abstract:
The Lisbon Bible is the most accomplished dated codex (that is, a manuscript in book form rather than a scroll) of the Portuguese school of medieval Hebrew illumination. Completed in 1482, the Lisbon Bible is a testimony to the rich cultural life the Portuguese Jews experienced prior to the expulsion and forced conversions of December 1496. Samuel ben Samuel Ibn Musa, known as Samuel the Scribe, copied the biblical text in an elegant square script for the manuscript's patron Yosef ben Yehudah al-Hakim. The sumptuous decorations, which mix Italian, Spanish and Flemish influences, were created by a team of skilled artists. Samuel wrote out his text in two columns of 26 lines with a reed pen in his characteristic Sephardi style, adding the vowels under the Hebrew letters. The initial word is inscribed in gold letters in a mauve filigree panel surrounded on three sides by multicoloured foliage. A second unnamed scribe wrote minute comments and notes on the main text in the upper and lower margins of the page and between the columns. These are known as masoretic notes. These notes were penned in minute unvocalised script (that is, without vowels). Rather than copying the text in straight lines, the anonymous scribe has created circular designs from lines of minute text, a technique known as micrography. We know who produced the book from the colophon (the 'credits panel' at the end of the book). In it, Samuel identifies himself as the scribe, and tells us that he finished it on a Friday evening in the Jewish month and year of Kislev 5243, corresponding to November/ December 1482CE. The Lisbon Bible is one of the most accurate of Hebrew biblical manuscripts, and as such it has been used in a number of modern critical editions. It may even have been designed specifically as a model text. It is the most accomplished dated manuscript of the Portuguese school of medieval Hebrew illumination. The British Museum Library (now the British Library) bought the manuscript in 1882.
Note:
Einl. in hebr. und engl. Sprache
URL:
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/lisbonbib.html
URL:
http://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=4145201d-ee22-4382-9ae8-2c78d9138444&type=book
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