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 a cauldron." 17 2 The figure of a man warming himself by the fire was a widespread motif in the representation of the winter months (December, January). 17 3 In perhaps the most famous illustration of the whole manuscript, decorating the frontispiece to the Song of Songs, we see King Solomon seated on his throne in the company of his animals with the Queen of Sheba in front of him, whom the artist has portrayed with an animal's head in the upper left-hand compartment (fig. 14). It seems to be no pure coincidence that Solomon and the Queen of Sheba appear together at the head of the Song of Songs: Solomon is indicated as the author in the title of the work itself, consequently the Lover can easily be identified with him, while a widespread, old tradition going back to Philon of Alexandria and eminently maintained by Isidore of Seville among others identifies the Beloved, the Bride, with the Queen of Sheba. This tradition enjoyed considerable popularity in the Middle Ages. 17 4 The Queen, wearing a crown, appears in the company of another zoocephalic female and "three human-headed hybrid acrobat-musicians playing a pipe and a tambourine and ringing a bell." 17 5 In the lower left-hand compartment we see Solomon's judgement (1 Kings 3:16-28) - according to a popular tradition the Queen of Sheba assisted at the judgement. 17 6 The King, wearing gloves, a purple mantle and a crown on his head, and holding a sword, is sitting cross-legged pointing to the Torah, which is in the right-hand turret of his throne, while in the left-hand turret there is a lamp the eternal light. Behind him two columns of his Temple can be seen. He is encircled 17 2 NARKISS - SED-RAJNA 1988. Tripartite Mahzor, vol. 1. Cards Nos. 28-30. Cf. MÜLLER - VON SCHLOSSER, Bilderhaggaden 1898. 118. 17 3 STROHMAIER-WIEDERANDERS 1999. 39, 59, 64, 68, 72, 74 (with a cauldron above the fire), 78. 17 4CHASTEL 1949. 101. Idem, Fables, formes, figures. Paris 1978. I. 90-91. Cf. also Edward ULLENDORFF, Ethiopia and the Bible. London 1968. 131-145. Giovanni CANOVA, Thcflabi. Storia di Bilqís, regina di Saba. Venezia 2000. 2-54, 101-108. Aviva KLEIN-FRANKE, Die Königin von Saba in der jüdischen Überlieferung. In: Die Königin von Saba. Kunst, Legende und Archäologie zwischen Morgenland und Abendland. Herausgegeben von Werner Daum. Stuttgart - Zürich 1988. 105-110. Andre CHASTEL , Regina Sibilla. Ibid. 117120. THA'LABI'S version of the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba from his Qisasalanbiyä can be consulted in Chrestomathie aus arabischen Prosaschriftstellern. Ed. by Rudolf Brünnow. (Porta Linguarum Orientalium, Pars XVI). Berlin-London-New York 1895. 1-22. A remarkable independent development of the story of the Queen of Sheba can be found in the Legenda Aurea, where the Queen and Solomon at one point get involved with a piece of wood out of which the cross of Jesus Christ will be hewn later on, a fact of course not concealed from the Queen. Jacobus DE VORAGINE, Die Legenda aurea aus dem Lateinischen übersetzt von Richard Benz. Berlin 1963. 378-379. '"NARKISS - SED-RAJNA 1988. Tripartite Mahzor, vol. I. Card No. 37. 17 6 RÉAU 1955-1959. 11. I. 289. SED-RAJNA 1987. 126. Earlier the identification of the two female figures in the lower left compartment was not unambiguous: from their gestures 162
