An Illustrated Miniature Hebrew Prayerbook Manuscript . [Wolf Leib Katz Poppers of Hildesheim, or his circle]. Lower Saxony, ca. 1750. 109 x 70 mm. 24 leaves. Ink and Gouache on parchment; Written in brown ink in Hebrew square vocalized script, with occasional instructions in either square, or Vaybertaytsh script, neither vocalized. Ruled in blind, 16-18 lines, each text page set within fine double-line ink frame (single line, ff. 19-24). Undecorated free endpapers, the front of which is inscribed with an undeciphered ownership note; Buntpapier pastedown endpapers. Original blind tooled vellum, housed within a complementary fitted slipcase. Title page and final leaf soiled; else lightly soiled and stained, commensurate with decades of daily devotional use. Brilliantly illustrated with nine vibrantly colored miniatures, including the four vignettes on the richly adorned title page; a decorated initial word panel (2r); three floral and faunal tailpieces (11r, 13r, 22v); an enlarged and embellished initial word (21r); and a schematic diagram of the menorah formed by the words of Psalm 67. Contents: f.1r: Title Page f.2r-13r: Ma'ariv (The evening prayer) f.13v-18r: Counting of the 'Omer f.19r-22v: Recitation of the Sh'ma f. 23r-24r: Sanctification of the New Moon f. 24v: Travelers' Prayer Decorative Program: The title page comprises four vignettes surrounding a central text panel which reads: 'Order of the evening prayer, in its appointed time, with all its laws, and with the three chapters of Psalms customarily recited after the timely evening prayer; and the laws and order of the Recitation of the Bedtime Sh'ma, and the Four chapters of Psalms, etc.' Above the central text panel, a page-width illustration of the Patriarch, Jacob, sleeping as angels ascend and descend a celestial ladder, surmounting the biblical text of Genesis 28:17, How full of awe is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Flanking the text panel, at right, four men in contemporary dress look up towards a waxing crescent moon; above them, descriptive text reads: the laws and order of the sanctification of the moon, while the illustration at left shows three men on horseback in contemporary dress ride across a verdant landscape, surmounted by the legend: the laws and order of the traveler's prayer. Below, the final vignette spans the width of the page and depicts a man in a well-appointed bedroom reciting the Sh'ma, the quintessential Jewish declaration of God's unity which is recited by observant Jews morning and night. Folio 12r features a half-page miniature of the Psalmist, King David kneeling in prayer in a lavishly appointed colonnaded room. Folio 16v depicts a tiled and curtained drawing room, with an elegantly dressed couple, dancing, and a man with his back turned, bowing in formal greeting towards another, seated man. This illustration follows immediately the enumeration of the 33rd day of the 'Omer. This date traditionally marks a pause in the mourning period that otherwise obtains during the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot and is often marked by festive activities. Folio 18r. The words of the 67th Psalm are arranged to form a schematic diagram of the Menorah, the candelabra found in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The 49 words of the psalm correspond to the 49 days of the Omer counted between Passover and Shavuot. Meditation on this image is believed to elevate the soul. Folio19r. Three travelers, two on horseback, make their way past a town in the foreground. This image should rightfully accompany the text of the traveler's prayer (f.24v). Folio 21r. A man, woman and child in their tiled and curtained bedchamber, adorned with flowers. The seated man reads the Sh'ma from a prayerbook while the woman sits next to the baby's cradle. This illustration is a more elaborate rendition of a similar image on the title page. Folio 23r. This elaborate image also reprises a simpler version from the title page as well. Here, four contemporarily dressed men, and a boy gaze upwards towards a waxing crescent moon, in a star-filled sky, while one man looks back towards the viewer. The image is set within an ornate baroque frame bounded by floral elements and grotesques. The Scribe/Artist, his Milieu, and his Oeuvre. During what has become known as the eighteenth-century Renaissance of Hebrew manuscript production, beginning in Vienna, then spreading to Bohemia and Moravia, and from there to elsewhere in Western Europe, skilled Jewish scribe-artists were commissioned to create luxurious small books on behalf of wealthy clients. Many of these patrons functioned as Court Jews, providing service to the rulers of the numerous political entities of eighteenth-century Central Europe, and often acted as intermediaries to the local rulers on behalf of the Jewish communities. While the scribe/artist who penned this tiny volume neither signed nor dated it, scholars have suggested that this manuscript is likely the work of Wolf Leib Katz Poppers of Hildesheim, or of his circle. Poppers, an eminent and accomplished scribe/artist of the period was active in the late 1740s, and while there remains extant only a single dated and signed manuscript by Poppers, several others may be confidently attributed to him on stylistic and paleographical grounds. These include miniature prayerbooks such as the present lot, circumcision books, and Esther scrolls, as well as several Haggadot. The present manuscript is a rare and precious object d'art, which demonstrates not only the practice of religious devotion of 18th century Central European Jewry, but also serves as an instructive artifact in the broader study of various social hierarchies, both within the confines of the Jewish community, as well as within the broader political and social milieu of Jewish-Christian relationships during that period. We would like to thank David Wachtel for his assistance cataloging this lot. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing