É. Apor (ed.): David Kaufmann Memorial Volume: Papers Presented at the David Kaufmann Memorial Conference, November 29, 1999, Budapest.

ORMOS, István: David Kaufmann and his Collection

DAVID KAUFMANN AND HIS COLLECTION It was around 1984 that Evelyn M. Cohen discovered that beneath the present illustration there is another one showing "a nimbed, seemingly half-length figure. [...] The form on the right is somewhat higher than Moses, and the two figures are jointly holding the Tablets".

8

0 The scene depicting Moses receiving the Tablets from the Lord can only have been executed by a Christian artist who was not aware that the representation of God was forbidden in Judaism. He seems to have received merely general instructions concerning the illumination program, which he then carried out as he was wont to do. When the blunder was discovered the owner had the original illustration painted over with another and so the present one was born. Only God's hand was left intact because it was a familiar way of representing God's presence.

8

1 Similarly, only a hand stretching out of a church is referring to God in a Christian manuscript preserved in Leiden and executed around 1000, where the artist-poet gives thanks to God for the completion of his work (poeta gras agil dő p expleto opere suo).

8

2 The Revelation at Sinai was depicted similarly by the artist of the Bird's Head Haggadah (fol. 23r) too.

8

3 The same method of representation occurs in the Dresden Mahzor (c.1290; Sächsische Landesbibliothek; f.202v), while in the Bible of the Ambrosiana in Milan (1236-1238. B 30 f.l82v) the Lord appears to 8

0 Evelyn M. CoHF.N, The Artist of the Kaufmann Mishneh Torah. In: Proceedings of the Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies. Jerusalem, August 4 - 12, 1985. Division D. Volume II: Art, Folklore, Theatre, Music. Jerusalem 1986. 25-30, esp. 28. See also her contribution The Kaufmann Mishneh Torah Illuminations on pp. 97-104 above. 8

1 Evelyn COHEN, The Decoration of Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts. In: A Sign and a Witness. 1988. 49-50. Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie 1968-1976. II. 211-214. Cf. Louis RÉAU, Iconographie de Vart chrétien. Paris 1955-1959. II. I. 7 (La Main divine). On this motif in Jewish art see Mendel METZOER, La haggada enluminée. I. Etude iconographique et stylistique des manuscrits enluminés et décorés de la haggada du XIII' au XVI' siécle. [Etudes sur le judai'sme médiéval. II. L.a haggada enluminée I.J Leiden 1973. 283

2, 286. On the motif of Moses receiving the Tablets of the Law see METZGER 1973. 301-310. Gabrielle SED-RAJNA, Die hebräische Bibel in Bilderhandschriften des Mittelalters. Übers, von Peter Hahlbrock. Frankfurt am Main - Berlin 1987. 95-96. Gabrielle SED-RAJNA, Les synagogues antiques. Architecture, peintures murales, mosaiques du III' au X' siécle. In: Gabrielle SEDRAJNA - Ziva AMISIIAI-MAISELS Dominique JARRASSÉ - Rudolf KLEIN - Ronny REICH, L'Art juif. Paris 1995. Fig. 70. Gabrielle SED-RAJNA, Les peintures bibliques de la synagogue de Doura-Europos. Ibid. 567. In a Mahzor executed in 1450 (Parma, De Rossi 2895, p. 271), God's hand is seen stretching out of a cloud in heaven and delivering the Tablets to Moses. MUNKÁCSI c. 1938. Plate XXIV, ill. No. 71. 8

2 Milo van SINT-AMAND, Carmen de sobrietate. Sint Omaars, ca. 1000. Hs. Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, BPL 190, fol. 26v. 8

3 METZGER 1973. 303, PI. LXVIII [fig. 388], 145