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

ISTVÁN ORMOS manuscript illuminated by a Christian artist in another Hungarian collection. The most beautiful Hebrew manuscript of the National Széchényi Library in Budapest contains the Sefer Mordechai, a compendious legal digest of the Talmud by Mordechai ben Hillel from the 13th century destined to replace that voluminous work in everyday life (Ms. Fol. Hebr. 1). The manuscript is dated 1372/3 and it was possible to show recently that it had emerged from a well-known workshop in Lower Austria. There can be no doubt that the illuminators of this manuscript were Christians, who produced Latin manuscripts in the first place but in some cases they worked for Jewish patrons also. It has been assumed that one of the proofs for the Christian background of one of the illuminators is the fact that some heads appearing in the marginal ornamentations are placed upside down. Obviously, it has been assumed, the illuminator was at a loss which way to hold the leaves and on certain occasions he made the wrong choice.'

2

3 Upon closer investigation, however, it becomes clear that this is out of the question because the structure of the ornamentations leaves absolutely no doubt that the illuminator, even if he did not understand the Hebrew text, was perfectly aware of the right position of the leaves. Namely, the pen-and-ink drawings in question are connected to the left margin of the scribal columns because they emphasize words appearing at the beginning of chapters, i.e. standing on the left side of the columns. In fact, the illuminator never made any mistake in this respect; these strange heads can be attributed to his playful nature instead. This interpretation is further substantiated by the observation that in two cases two heads appear on the same leaf with one in normal position and the other placed upside down. In a third case one head is in the normal upright position while another is placed horizontally on the same leaf. In general, the proportion of these irregularly placed heads is also significant: eight are placed upside down and one horizontally out of a total of eighty-four (or eighty-five). After all, it was not all too difficult to find the right position of the leaves in this MS. Even if the illuminator did not 12

3 See Samuel KOHN, Die hebräischen Handschriften des ungarischen Nationalmuseums zu Budapest. Sonderabdruck aus dem Magazin für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums von Dr. Berliner und Dr. Hoffmann. Jahrg. 1877. Berlin 1877. Idem, Mardochai ben Hillel. Sein Leben und seine Schriften sowie die von ihm angeführten Autoritäten. Nebst 6 bisher unedirten hebräischen Beilagen unter Benutzung handschriftlicher Quellen. Breslau 1878. [Separatabdruck von Frankel-Graetz's Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums. [[Bd. 26-27]]. Jahrgang 1877 und 1878.] Andreas FINGERNAGEL - Alois HAIDINGER, Neue Zeugen des Niederösterreichischen Randleistenstils in hebräischen, deutschen und lateinischen Handschriften = Codices Manuscripti 39/40 (2002) 15-35 [Andreas FINGERNAGEL, Die hebräischen Handschriften in Budapest (Cod. Hebr. 1) und Wien (Cod. Hebr. 77)], esp. 33. István ORMOS, Mordecháj könyve [Sefer Mordechai] In: Jankovich Miklós (17721846) gyűjteményei [The collections of József Jankovich (1772-1846)]. Ed. by Árpád Mikó. Budapest 2002. 255-259. 152