"HaMelech" Esther Scroll in High-Quality Gilt Silver Case – Vienna, 19th Century

"HaMelech" Esther Scroll in High-Quality Gilt Silver Case – Vienna, 19th Century

Esther scroll housed in magnificent decorated silver case. Vienna, prior to 1886; engraved inscription dated 1905.
Ink on thin parchment, treated; silver, turned, sawed, repoussé and engraved (marked with Vienna city mark, and with year [faded] and silversmith's mark, initials CJ or CS?); gilt.
"HaMelech" Esther scroll – most columns begin with the word HaMelech, these words being "crowned" with an ornament; letters alluding to Holy Names enlarged in several places. Inscribed on four membranes of thin parchment; 14 columns of text, 25 lines per column.
The scroll is housed in a high-quality, elegant, slender cylindrical silver case, decorated with wide bands bearing a pattern of acanthus leaves in relief, framed by vertical borders with a blank, patternless surface. At the center of the case is a framed monogram with the initials "BJ". Engraved in the bottom margin is the Hebrew year 5665 (1905); this date represents a more recent addition. The case is surmounted by a gilt dome, enclosed within a "crown" with arms shaped like leafy branches. The "crown" is itself surmounted by a flower-shaped ornament. The bottom lid of the case, surmounting the handle, is similarly decorated with matching leaf-shaped ornaments.

Height of parchment: 14 cm; height of case (incl. handle): 35 cm. Good condition. Scroll likely more recent than case.

Provenance: Estate of Rabbi Ze'ev Wolf Gottlieb (1910-1983).