Accession number
MS M.1233
Object title
The Song of Songs (MS M.1233).
Created
Jerusalem and New York City, 2022
Binding
Blue goatskin, gold-tooled with "Shir" Hebrew script (see also "Script"), with marbled paper pastedown, 3 paper flyleaves before and after parchment quires; in marbled slipcase, in blue cloth clamshell with gold-tooled leather strip on spine with manuscript title, by Gavin Dovey.
Credit line
Gift of the Family of Joanna S. Rose with support from the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Fund, 2022.
Description
26 folios : vellum (calfskin) ; 8 1/2 x 7 5/16 inches (21.5 x 18.7 cm) (folio), 8 3/4 x 8 7/16 inches (22.1 x 21.5 cm) (cover)
Provenance
Commissioned by Joanna S. Rose from Barbara Wolff in January 2019 and completed in April 2022.
Notes
Hebrew and English versions of The Song of Songs, with accompanying illustrations and illuminations.
Written in Jerusalem, Israel; illuminated in New York City; bound in Pound Ridge, NY.
Collation: I⁸, II-IV⁶.
Text: The Song of Songs, complete, in Hebrew (fols. 3r-19r) and in English (fols. 19v-25r).
Scribe: Izzy Pludwinski.
Decoration: 8 full-page, 22 large, 8 small illustrations.
List of illustrations: Tapestry, vines, insects, flowers, cedar trees, rivers, raven, sun, moon, stars, waves, fire, spice boxes, gazelles, anemone, storax, saffron, cinnamon, wheat, poppies, pomegranate, spikenard, cane, lavender, henna, frankincense, mandrake, golden thistle, tulip agenensis, apricot.
Artist: Barbara Wolff.
This is the fourth creation by Barbara Wolff to enter the collection; it joins Psalm 104 (M.1190), the Rose Haggadah (M.1191), and the Book of Ruth (M.1210).
Each chapter of the Song in Hebrew is preceded by a selected passage from that chapter, in gilded stylized Hebrew script and that relates to the full-page illumination in the facing folio: Song of Songs, Chapter 1 verse 5 (fols. 3v-4r), 2:1 (fols. 5v-6r), 3:9-10 (fols. 7v-8r), 4:15 (fols. 9v-10r), 5:11 (fols. 11v-12r), 6:10 (fols. 13v-14r), 7:14 (fols. 15v-16r), 8:6-7 (fols. 17v-18r).
The English text is that of Song of Songs: A New Translation, by Ariel Bloch and Chana Bloch (1995). The illuminated spice boxes accompanying the English translation represent similar pieces from the collection of Joanna S. Rose, as stated in the colophon on fol. 25v.
Written in Jerusalem, Israel; illuminated in New York City; bound in Pound Ridge, NY.
Collation: I⁸, II-IV⁶.
Text: The Song of Songs, complete, in Hebrew (fols. 3r-19r) and in English (fols. 19v-25r).
Scribe: Izzy Pludwinski.
Decoration: 8 full-page, 22 large, 8 small illustrations.
List of illustrations: Tapestry, vines, insects, flowers, cedar trees, rivers, raven, sun, moon, stars, waves, fire, spice boxes, gazelles, anemone, storax, saffron, cinnamon, wheat, poppies, pomegranate, spikenard, cane, lavender, henna, frankincense, mandrake, golden thistle, tulip agenensis, apricot.
Artist: Barbara Wolff.
This is the fourth creation by Barbara Wolff to enter the collection; it joins Psalm 104 (M.1190), the Rose Haggadah (M.1191), and the Book of Ruth (M.1210).
Each chapter of the Song in Hebrew is preceded by a selected passage from that chapter, in gilded stylized Hebrew script and that relates to the full-page illumination in the facing folio: Song of Songs, Chapter 1 verse 5 (fols. 3v-4r), 2:1 (fols. 5v-6r), 3:9-10 (fols. 7v-8r), 4:15 (fols. 9v-10r), 5:11 (fols. 11v-12r), 6:10 (fols. 13v-14r), 7:14 (fols. 15v-16r), 8:6-7 (fols. 17v-18r).
The English text is that of Song of Songs: A New Translation, by Ariel Bloch and Chana Bloch (1995). The illuminated spice boxes accompanying the English translation represent similar pieces from the collection of Joanna S. Rose, as stated in the colophon on fol. 25v.
Script
Hebrew script: "Shir," created by Izzy Pludwinski (based on Hebrew cursive). English script: informal, uncial-influenced Roman script.
Language
Hebrew and English
Century
Catalog link
Classification
Department