2. Hall - 2. view

Codex page with micrographic decoration

On the parchment sheet there is a detail of a micrographic representation: Eve holding palm leaves in front of her with one hand and with the other offers an apple to Adam, whose only one hand and leg is visible. Between them, there is a tree with a serpent coiling on it. The second commandment’s provisions that prohibit figural representations have been many ways tackled to overcome by Jewish artists. The most typical micrographic depictions are when the sacred texts are written in very small letters and are rendered into a variety of abstract, plant, animal or human figures. Each corners of Hungary’s most precious Jewish codex remnant are sharply cut off and from the way they are creased, it becomes obvious that the original codex was dissembled and this parchment had been reused for another book as a cover. According to Fülöp Grünvald, this fragment of a codex could come from the Jewish community of Buda that was burnt down in 1686, during the re-conquest of Buda from the Turks. In Sándor Scheiber’s opinion, this parchment could even belong to the famous Corvina library of King Matthias. Enlarge the picture!