The Hebrew Book in Early Modern Italy

Chapter 1. Can Colophons Be Trusted? Insights from Decorated Hebrew Manuscripts Produced for Women in Renaissance Italy

CHAPTER 1 Can Colophons Be Trusted? Insights from Decorated Hebrew Manuscripts Produced for Women in Renaissance Italy Evelyn M. Cohen The scribe Moses ben H . ayyim Akris completed a Hebrew prayer book, which he referred to as a siddur and a mah .zor, on 26 Adar I [5]280 (⳱ 15 February 1520), by which time apparently some, though clearly not most, of the work had been illuminated.1 The codex subsequently was inherited by Jacob Norsa, who commissioned additional decoration. The ornamentation of the borders and the text illustrations reveal the hands of various artists working in different styles. The inclusion of the date ‘‘1569’’ within the adornment of folio 253r establishes that the manuscript’s embellishment continued in that year. The prayer book’s iconography is significant because women appear prominently in scenes of religious observance in some of the miniatures added after the codex was first decorated. In the illustration of the havdalah ceremony at the conclusion of the Sabbath (fol. 65r), a man holding the glass of wine over which the benediction is recited faces a group of male and female figures. At the head of this assembly stands a woman, who is the sole figure to hold an open book. A woman is also the principal figure—in terms of scale and placement—in a similar group in the depiction of the Torah being displayed prior to its reading in the synagogue on the last day of Passover (fol. 150r). The manuscript is, therefore, of arthistorical note both for recording interesting aspects of religious observance of the time as well as for displaying the evolving styles that reflect changes in artistic tastes of the sixteenth century. 18 Chapter 1 As a historical document, however, the prayer book is even more intriguing . Akris stated that he copied the work for Isaac ben Emanuel Norsa.2 An exceptionally wealthy Ferrarese banker, Isaac is well known from contemporary documents and from inscriptions in other manuscripts that he either commissioned or purchased.3 A remarkable feature in this prayer book of 1520 is that Isaac’s wife, Consiglia, noted at the beginning of the work that she had the mah .zor written for her and her offspring.4 She offered no further clarification of her apparent contradiction of Akris’s statement that Isaac had commissioned the work; furthermore, the three gender-specific morning benedictions formulated for recitation by a female are not included as they sometimes are in manuscripts intended for use by a woman.5 Jacob Norsa, the son of Consiglia and Isaac, had folio 4r embellished extravagantly with gold leaf. The lower section displays his family crest surmounted by a scroll inscribed with the abbreviation for ‘‘my help comes from God.’’6 Gold-leaf letters in the upper part of the page proclaim, ‘‘This is my name forever and this is my memorial from generation to generation7 Jacob of Norsa {may my Rock protect me}.’’8 Neither parent is mentioned on this elaborately adorned page. That Jacob inherited the manuscript is clear, but from whom? Are we to believe the scribe’s assertion that he copied it for Isaac, or Consiglia’s claim that she had it made for herself? The Reliability of Colophons The colophons in medieval and Renaissance Hebrew manuscripts often supply valuable information. Although sections of these inscriptions sometimes merely repeat commonly employed verses and formulae, identification of the scribe and his patron as well as the place and date in which the work was carried out provides significant records that shed light on individuals’ actions and movements. It is uncertain, however, whether the scribe is to be believed in all cases and whether the meaning of his words is being interpreted correctly.9 At times even the reliability of the copyist to accurately identify the person who penned the manuscript must be called into question. A case in point is a colophon in a Hebrew miscellany that indicates that it was made for the above-mentioned Isaac Norsa.10 The inscription on folio 309r states that the work was completed on Wednesday, 19 Marh .eshvan, 28 October [5]284 (⳱ 1523) by Eliezer ben Joseph of Rimini for Isaac Norsa, the son of Colophons 19 Emanuel Norsa.11 In truth, Eliezer copied only the last part of the codex, beginning in the middle of folio 287v, toward the end of the prayer book, which was the final text to be included in the...