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 as it happened for instance in the famous Bible manuscript in the Karlsruhe County Library, which had once belonged to Johann Reuchlin, where one initially has the impression of seeing a whole menagerie of lions, bears, oxen, sheep and other animals only to realize later, after thorough examination, that all these animals are in fact concealing the massoretic apparatus written in an extremely small microscript. Similar representations of animals can be seen in one of the manuscripts of Malmad ha-talmidim, the philosophical sermons by Jacob ben Abbamare (Jacob Anatole), one of the followers of Maimonides, a translator at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. One of the pages (f.4v) of this manuscript (shelf-mark: MS Kaufmann A 287) written in Rimini in Italy towards the end of the 14th century is decorated with splendid illustrations both in the margins and the central parts of the page, crowned by the representation of a lion and lioness lying under stylized trees - the illustration is drawn to life and very nearly radiates the Renaissance joie de vivre (fig. 7). 14 3 There is another illuminated two-volume copy of the Mishneh Torah in the Kaufmann Collection of considerable weight, which was written in 1310 in Germany (MS Kaufmann A 78). Its artistic qualities, however, fall far behind those of the previous one. In the miniature which ornaments the frontispiece of the Book of Knowledge there is a lion sitting on the top of a dome flanked by two turrets while the bearded, seated figure of Maimonides wearing a pointed hat appears below the central arch (fig. 8). In the upper title compartment four dogs are hunting a stag, watched by a seated rabbit. In the lower compartment, from left to right, we see a man about to hit a quadruped with an axe, a stork, and Samson and the lion, while on the left an owl is watching a bear (?) licking honey from ajar. 14 4 The Mahzor shelf-mark A 384 contains many exciting illustrations, the details of which have not yet been sufficiently researched. This manuscript was written in Southern Germany (in the region of Lake Constance, Bavaria or the region of the Upper Rhine) around 1320. 14 5 It is also called Tripartite Mahzor because Bezalel Narkiss has shown convincingly that it is in fact volume I of a sizeable manuscript I4 : KAUFMANN 1 898. 257-258, 303. On this see Thérése METZGER, La masora ornementale et le décor calligraphique dans les manuscrits hébreux espagnols au Moyen Age. Colloques Internationaux de Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. N° 547: La paléographie hébra'íque médiévale. Paris 11-13 septembre 1972. 87-116, PI. XCVI1-CX11. Joseph GUTMANN, Masorah Figurata: The Origins and Development of a Jewish Art Form. In: Esludios masoreticos (V Congreso de la IOMS) dedicados a Harry M. Orlinsky. Fditados por Emilia Fernández Tejero. Madrid 1983. 49-62. [Reprinted in: GUTMANN 1989. XV. 49-62], 14 3 K AUFMANN 1898. 290-291. W EISZ 1906. 99-100. 14 4 KAUFMANN 1898. 284-285. NARKISS - SED-RAJNA 1988. Second Kaufmann Mishneh Torah. Cards Nos. 4-6. 156
