Index of Jewish Art 4. vol: Illuminated Manuscripts of the Kaufmann Collection at the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Különálló lapok tokban.

Introduction

9 INTRODUCTION The present Index sets out to be complementary to the Princeton Index of Christian Art in a field that the latter, by definition, had to leave out of its scope : a comprehensive iconographical Index of Jewish Art. Jewish Art in this context refers to objects made for the use and appréciation of people living according to the Jewish tradition, in their ritual and everyday life, including artifacts created by non-Jewish artists. The scope of Jewish, as distinct from Israelite art is confined in this definition to the hellenistic period onwards.Since artistic style of Jewish art objects is hardly ever different from that of the contemporary local art of the surrounding society, the role of Jewish iconography became predominant in this art. In attempting to build a comprehensive Index of Jewish Art, it was realized that it can only be compiled in stages. It was, therefore, decided to start the Index by listing the subjects in Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts,the medium which has the largest number of illustrations compared with other media in Jewish Art.