Passover Haggadah. Illuminated parchment manuscript. Attributed to the scribe-artist Jakob son of Michael May Segal of Innsbruck. [Germany, perhaps Frankfurt am Main], 1729.

Ink and paint on parchment.

The Haggadah text is written in black ink, in square script, mostly vocalized; Yiddish texts are written in Ashkenazic semi-cursive script (Vaybertaytsh); the instructions and captions of illustrations are written in Sephardic semi-cursive (Rashi) script. Most pages are bordered by red rectangular frames; in some cases, the headers or illustrations extend beyond the frame.

The manuscript contains the Passover Haggadah with instructions in Hebrew and Yiddish. At the end of the Haggadah, on leaf [28a], appears the blessing for Sefirat HaOmer, followed by the piyyut Almechtiger Got (a Yiddish variation on Adir Hu), followed by Echad Mi Yodea in Hebrew and Yiddish (most written in two columns), followed by Chad Gadya in Hebrew and Yiddish, alternating verse by verse.

At the top of the title page appears the name of the owner of the manuscript:
"This Haggadah belongs to Itzek son of Zeliman Öttingen, 1729".

The Identity of the Manuscript's Illuminator and his Place of Origin

This manuscript does not contain a colophon or any explicit identification of the scribe or his place of origin. In 1985, a facsimile of the manuscript was published by Nahar publishing (Israel) along with a foreword by Chaya Benjamin attributing the manuscript to the scribe-artist Jakob son of Michael May Segal of Innsbruck, based on the similarity between it and another Haggadah he produced in Frankfurt, 1731, with a detailed colophon. The other manuscript, which was still in a private collection in the United States in 1985, was purchased in 1986 by the Jewish Museum of Frankfurt, and is now known as the "Frankfurt Haggadah". When the Jewish Museum of Frankfurt opened in 1988, a facsimile of the manuscript was published along with a companion volume (see below), in which the present manuscript is briefly mentioned, although the degree of relation between the two manuscripts remains to be clarified.

Apart from its artistic style, the only indication of this manuscript's place of origin is the owner's name mentioned on the title page – Itzek son of Zeliman Öttingen. In various descriptions published over the years, it has been described as a manuscript from Ettingen (Öttingen), Bavaria, based on its mention on the title page, and it has occasionally been called the Öttingen Haggadah. However, the identification of the city of origin as Öttingen appears to be an error, as Öttingen should be read as the surname of the manuscript's owner, not the location of production. Several families by this name lived in 18th-century Frankfurt, and if the identification of the scribe-artist given above is correct, the Öttingen Haggadah may well have been produced in Frankfurt.

Decorations

The decorations featured in this Haggadah include a fully-illustrated title page, seven pages with miniature illustrations, fifteen large illustrations covering about a third of the page (most depicting events related in the Haggadah), and twenty-nine more initial panels decorated in various styles. The subjects and sizes are detailed below:

Page 1a: The spies carry a bunch of grapes. One-third of page.

2a: A full-page architectonic gate illustration, with a pair of angels holding a cartouche at the top, containing the figures of Moses and Aaron in the center, and a depiction of the Binding of Isaac between two pillar bases decorated with lion heads.

3a-4a: The twelve parts of the Seder, miniatures, approx. 3.5X6.5 cm.

4b: The initial panel is enclosed in a flowery rectangular frame, with a female figure to the right and a male figure to the left holding a goblet and leaning on a pillow.

5a: The initial panel is decorated with flowers.

6a: A pair of large lions hold a medallion with the initial word, topped by a large, decorated crown, with a female figure and leaf decorations below. Half of page.

6b: The initial word is drawn as colorful ribbons, next to a Jewish figure.

7a: An illustration depicting the sages having the Seder in Bnei Brak and recounting the Exodus the entire night. One-third of page.

7b: Two figures of a man and a woman – sitting beside the table and reciting the Haggadah, appear to the left and right of the initial panel; further on in the page is an illustration of the four sons, covering one-third of the page.

8b: An illustration of "Originally our fathers were idol worshipers", depicting idolatry and Abraham in the Land of Canaan. One-third of page.

9a: A captioned illustration depicting Abraham and the angels. One-third of page.

9b: A captioned illustration depicting Jacob's family traveling to Egypt. One-third of page.

10a: A captioned illustration depicting Moses killing the Egyptian, with the building of Pithom and Raamses in the background. One-third of page.

10b: Captioned illustration of the children being cast into the Nile and Moses being found. One-third of page.

11a: Depiction of the plague of pestilence. One-sixth of page.

11b: Captioned illustration of Moses and Aaron standing before Pharaoh, with the Egyptian taskmasters beating the Children of Israel in the background. One-third of page.

12a-12b: The ten plagues, miniatures, approx. 6.5X6.5 cm.

13a: Captioned illustration of the plague of frogs. One-third of page.

13b: Captioned illustration of the splitting of the Red Sea and the drowning of the Egyptians. One-third of page.

14b: Illustration depicting Moses on Mount Sinai and the giving of the Torah. One-third of page.

15a: Captioned illustration of the Passover offering. One-third of page.

16a: Initial panel, particularly large and colorful letters, decorated with vegetal patterns.

21a: Illustration depicting King David kneeling in prayer. One-third of page.

23a: Initial word written in gold inside a decorated medallion, surrounded by figures of women (angels?), pillars, eagles, human faces and a pair of rabbits.

24a: Large initial panel, decorated with colorful flowers, placed above two branches with large flowers.

24b: Two initial panels written in colorful letters; both sides of the second panel illustrated with a hunter aiming a rifle at a bear being attacked by hunting dogs.

26b: Initial panel with large letters decorated with colorful flowers, above two branches bearing large flowers.

28a: Illustration of the Temple. One-third of page. Below it, large and colorful initial panel set between two branches with large flowers.

28b: The initial panel is surrounded by illustrations of birds, a basket of flowers, cornucopias and flower arrangements.

29a-30b: The thirteen initial panels of Echad Mi Yodea decorated in frames, in varying patterns, most with illustrations of vegetal patterns, two also with a human face.

31a-32a: Initial panel of Chad Gadya surrounded by a decorated frame and two female figures; ten miniature illustrations of Chad Gadya appear in the margins, averaging 3X4 cm (some smaller or larger).

As in many other 18th-century Haggadot, this Haggadah's illustrations are based on earlier ones that had been printed in the Venice Haggadah (Venice, 1609) and the Amsterdam Haggadah (Amsterdam, 1695); at times the artist integrated motifs taken from both Haggadot into one illustration. This phenomenon was noted by Haviva Peled-Carmeli, in the exhibition catalogue "Illustrated Haggadot of the Eighteenth Century" (Israel Museum, 1983, p. 28), which includes five illustrations from the present Haggadah (described as originating "from Öttingen, Germany").

[32] leaves (2 single folios + 15 bifolios). 20X31 cm. Condition varies: many leaves in good to very good condition, some with light stains. Some 20 leaves with dampstains and old stains (some dark), affecting text, and smudging in outer frames, generally not affecting illustrations (except in a few cases). Worming and several tears, mainly to inner margins, some restored. Creases to some leaves. Original binding, parchment colored reddish-brown and ochre, with decorations, some gilt, in vegetal patterns, with flowers, birds and stars. Damage to binding, professionally restored; new endpapers.

Reference

• Passover Haggadah, Öttingen, 1729, written and illustrated by Jakob son of Michael May Segal. Facsimile edition. Introduction by Chaya Benjamin (in Hebrew and English). Tel Aviv: Nahar, 1985. Also published by Miskal, 2001.

• Haviva Peled-Carmeli (research and text), Illustrated Haggadot of the Eighteenth Century. Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1983, facsimiles 37, 38, 64, 88, 98, 118.

• Die Frankfurter Pessach-Haggadah: eine illustrierte Handschrift des Jakob ben Michael May Segal von 1731 im Jüdischen Museum der Stadt Frankfurt. Frankfurt am Main: Propyläen-Verlag, 1988.

• The Historical Background of the Frankfurt Haggadah, 1731, by Johannes Wachten, Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies, X, 1989, pp. 183-186 (Hebrew).

This manuscript is also documented in the Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item 23800.