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The Sarajevo Haggadah, folio 2v & 3r

26338

Manuscript Information

Title of manuscript: The Sarajevo Haggadah
MS call number (and folio selected): Folio 2v & 3r; No call number.
Current location: National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo
Place of creation: Barcelona (or Kingdom of Aragon)
Date of creation: circa mid-1350s (14th century)

Codicology and Paleography

Language(s) of text: Hebrew
Script: Bold Sephardi (an example of this is “medieval Spanish”). This is known as a liturgical formula. Punctuated. Bold Sephardi is distinguished by “its broad strokes, its upright form, and its tall ascenders and descenders above and below the line” (Hoth 22).
Abbreviations: None
Textual corrections: None
            Contemporary: None
            Later: None
Marginal commentary: None
            Contemporary: None
            Later: None
Rubrication: None
Instructions for scribe: None
Instructions for rubricator and/or artist: None

Provenance 

Marks of ownership: None
Previous owners: Early traces of the Sarajevo Haggadah can be sourced back to the expulsion of the Jewish people from Spain in 1482. An Italian-Jewish hand wrote in the margins of the codex the following date: August, 25th, 1510, suggesting the Haggadah was transported to Italy after the expulsion of Jewish people. After that, it’s believed to have been in the possession of an Italian ecclesiastical censor by the name of Giovanni Domenico Vistorini around 1609. Before finally residing in The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sarajevo Haggadah was discovered by Joseph Cohen in 1894.

Mise en Page

Columns: 1
Lines per Column: Folio 2v ---- 16 lines per column; Folio 3r ---- 4 lines per column (6 if including the gold initials within the frame at the top).

Decoration (in hierarchical order)

Marginal Illustrations: Yes, red/blue tendrils on the left and right margins.
Miniatures: Yes, City and County of Barcelona. In the miniature illustration on the top, Gothic Portal with crenellations are present. The Gothic influence is also seen in the flat perspectives of the buildings.
Small ink initials: Repeated 3 times over a small red frame on f. 2v. Based on the way they start some of the lines, these are inferred to be guide letters. There are also small black ink dots below the Sephardi text on both pages.
Gold initials: Yes, Ha Lahama ("This is the Bread of Affliction that our fathers ate in the Land of Egypt) on f. 3r. It's about two lines long and centered (more or less) in the middle of the frame a part of the miniature.
Gilding: Throughout fol. 3r, most prominent in the initials in the frame (reads: Ha Lahama). The application of gold can also be seen in the celtic marginal decorations, the two badges on the bottom, and is a primary color in the miniature. 
Pen flourished initials: None
Painted initials: None
Foliate initials: None
Zoomorphic initials: None
Anthropomorphic initials: None
Historiated initials: None
Monograms: None
Full page illustration: None

Other Information

In the miniature illustration on the top, Gothic Portal with crenellations are present. The Gothic influence is also seen in the flat perspectives of the buildings. This may have been due to the possible prospect of the Sarajevo Haggadah being in Italy at one point during the 14th century (Hoth 21).

The setting, background and border design of the miniatures resemble the Bible of Jean de Papeleu (Hoth 25).

The rosette on the bottom-left is a device from the Aragonese house of Margarit. The kingdom of Aragon is significant to the Sarajevo Haggadah since it's believed that the origins of the codex started there (Hoth 14-15).

The crimson wing on the bottom-right escutcheon is the badge of the family of Sanz, as well as that of the Bars of Aragon (Hoth 14).

Further Readings

Broderick, Herbert R. “Observations on the Creation Cycle of the Sarajevo Haggadah.”

Zeitschrift Fur Kunstgeschichte, vol. 47, no. 3, 1984, pp. 320–332.,  doi:10.2307.1482239.

Pataki, Andrea, et al. “The Conservation of the Sarajevo Haggadah.” The Paper Conservator,  

vol. 29, no. 1, 17 Sept. 2010, pp. 63–66, doi:10.1080/03094227.2005.9638488.

Reff, Zach. “A Passover Relic.” San Diego Jewish Journal, 6 Apr. 2004,

sdjewishjournal.com/stories/apr06_4.html.

Roth, Cecil. "Introduction." The Sarajevo Haggadah, Jugoslavija, 1975.

This page has paths:

  1. Lit 150 Winter Quarter Kristy Golubiewski-Davis

This page has tags:

  1. Map of Current Locations Kristy Golubiewski-Davis
  2. Timeline Kristy Golubiewski-Davis
  3. Damaged Kristy Golubiewski-Davis
  4. Gold initials Kristy Golubiewski-Davis
  5. Miniatures Kristy Golubiewski-Davis
  6. 14th Century Kristy Golubiewski-Davis
  7. Hebrew Kristy Golubiewski-Davis

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