Esther Scroll on Parchment, in Magnificent Sandalwood Case Made by Yehoshua Meisels of Dolyna (Galicia), 1892 – ...

Esther Scroll on Parchment, in Magnificent Sandalwood Case Made by Yehoshua Meisels of Dolyna (Galicia), 1892 – Dedicatory Inscription to Baron Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild

Ink on Parchment; turned wood, sawed and carved; brass rings.
"HaMelekh" Esther scroll, written in Ashkenazi script on two sheets of parchment, sewn together, with 10 columns of text, 42 lines per column.
This Esther scroll is housed in an expertly crafted wooden case, delicately and meticulously carved, representing a masterpiece example of Eastern European Jewish wood carving, and reminiscent in style of the characteristic artwork appearing on carved wooden Torah arks. Adorned with richly detailed carvings that include Hebrew verses from the Book of Esther with accompanying illustrations, as well as lions, tendrils and a wide range of other vegetal patterns, flowers, lattice patterns, rings, and other decorative patterns that, together, densely cover the entire surface area of the case.

The details regarding the making of the case – the sculptor’s name, the location, and the Hebrew and Gregorian year – are all indicated on the surface with the following (Hebrew) inscriptions: "Made by Yehoshua Meisels of Dolyna"; "5652"; and "1892"; alongside a dedicatory inscription addressed in Hebrew to the Baron Shimeon Wolf (Wilhelm Carl) von Rothschild: "To the Philanthropic Minister and Senior Officer Baron Rothschild".

The case’s cylindrical body is divided into three wide bands that together contain four vignettes with verses from the Book of Esther along with carved illustrations depicting the scenes associated with them: The upper band consists of two carved illustrations corresponding to the verses "And they hanged Haman…" (Esther 7:10) and "and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand…" (Esther 5:2). In the depiction of his hanging, Haman is portrayed with his wrists and ankles tied, suspended by his neck from a gallows, while the rope passes over a wheel and is grasped at the other end by an executioner wearing a top hat, as a bird of prey perched on the gallows pecks at the top of Haman’s head. Also shown in this band is the two-headed eagle, emblem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the year the case was created, 1892. Toward the bottom of this band is the inscription bearing the sculptor’s name, carved onto an elongated sign, grasped at either end by a carved pair of hands.
The middle band includes a richly detailed carved illustration corresponding to the verses "So the king and Haman came to drink with Queen Esther. And the king said to Esther… What is your petition, Queen Esther, and it shall be given to you. And what is your request, even up to half the kingdom, and it shall be granted" (Esther 7:1-2). At the bottom of this band is the dedicatory inscription addressed to the Baron Rothschild (see above); here too, the inscription is carved onto an elongated sign, grasped at either end by a carved pair of hands.
The bottom band is dedicated to the verse "And Haman took the raiment and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and paraded him in the city square and announced before him, So shall be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor!" (Esther 6:11). The inscription bearing this verse forms the border of a carved illustration showing Mordechai mounted on the back of a horse being led by Haman. All this is encircled by dense patterns of clusters of grapes and grape leaves.
The rims of the case are adorned with patterns of entwined ropes. The upper scroll handle is decorated with acanthus leaves and other delicate patterns. The bottom handle bears a lattice pattern. The Hebrew year – 5652 – appears above the slot though which the scroll is withdrawn. The rod forming the pull bar is similarly adorned with expertly carved decorations, including a pair of mighty lions grasping brass rings in their teeth; the brass rings are connected by a chain of wooden rings which appear to have been carved from a single block of wood.

This Esther scroll represents an extraordinary piece of Judaica not just because of its sheer beauty and rarity, but also on account of its unique history. It was created in 1892 by a Jewish master wood carver by the name of [Yechezkel] Yehoshua Meisels, from the town of Dolyna in the Carpathian foothills (part of Austro-Hungarian Galicia at the time; today in southwestern Ukraine), and dedicated to the Baron Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild.

In 1902, the British historian and Orthodox rabbi, Michael Adler (1868-1944; the British Army’s first Jewish military chaplain to serve in wartime), published an article in The Jewish Chronicle, dealing with the traditional artistic aspects of Esther scrolls. Towards the end of this article, he devotes a paragraph to the subject of decorated Esther scrolls. Here he discusses scroll cases made of silver, gold, bone, and enamel, put on display at London’s Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition of 1887. He subsequently states that "the most ornate [Esther scroll] case that I have seen is one, some twenty inches long, carved in wood. It was made in the year 1892, by a Russian Jew, who carved the Hebrew name of Baron Willy Rothschild upon it and offered it to that gentleman for sale. The Baron, however, declined to pay the price asked for the Megillah with its case, and it became the property of a private collector of MSS. in London…" The "private collector of MSS. in London" mentioned here was Solomon Schloss.

The "Willy Rothschild" identified by Adler was none other than Baron Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild (1828-1901), grandson of the patriarch and founder of the Rothschild dynasty, Mayer Amschel Rothschild. Wilhelm Carl headed the Frankfurt house of the banking dynasty, where it had originated. As the only fully practicing Orthodox member of the Rothschild clan of his generation, Willy Rothchild assumed the role of patron of Torah institutions and charitable Orthodox organizations of the "Old Yishuv" in Eretz Israel – and was thus titled the "Tzadik Baron" or the "Tzadik Minister".
An Esther scroll case similar to the one presented here, created by the same master craftsman some 21 years later, is today part of the René Braginsky Collection, Zurich (see: Schöne Seiten, Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection, 2011, pp. 324-325, no. 106).

Height of Parchment sheets: approx. 24 cm. Good condition. Stains. Slight tears to top edge of first sheet. Height of case: 64 cm. Blemishes and tiny pinholes (result of nailing) to wooden case. Minor rubbings and chipping to few of the ornaments. Nail in handle of pull bar. Lower lid of case slightly loose. Upper lid of case reinforced with glue.

References: The Esther scroll and its case were described in the article by Michael Adler, "The Purim Megillah", in The Jewish Chronicle, London, March 21, 1902, p. 25. Illustration of the item appears in: Joy Ungleider-Meyerson, Jewish Folk Art, New York, 1987, p. 178.
Exhibitions:
1. Presumably, London, Exhibition of Jewish Art and Antiquities, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1906, item no. 1162 (four scrolls on loan from Solomon Schloss).
2. Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, JMS 1022.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Solomon David Schloss (1815-1911).
2. Lewis Raphael Castle (1858-1932), son of the above.
3. Peter Castle (1922-2011), grandson of the above.
4. Heirs of the above.
This item appears in the inventory list of the Schloss Collection, dated 1923 (see appendix, pp. 146-148).