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Haggadah
Joseph Leipnik
1737
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The scribe and illustrator Joseph ben David came from Leipnik, in northeastern Moravia (now the Czech Republic) and lived in Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt, Altona, and Hamburg. In the eighteenth century, Hebrew manuscript illustration experienced a revival in Germany and Central Europe. While he was neither the most prolific nor the most skilled artist of his time, Leipnik became a famous and influential scribe and illuminator, introducing new themes and using color in innovative ways. Fifteen of his manuscripts (one illustrated by another artist) have survived, dated between 1730 and 1740, among them fourteen Haggadahs. Some information about his life, including his patrons, can be gleaned from the colophons he added to his manuscripts. He probably supplemented his income by teaching children of rich families.
This page from a Haggadah produced in Amsterdam is an example of the work of Joseph Ben David, a prominent eighteenth-century scribe and artist known particularly for his illustrated Haggadahs. This…
This ewer and basin from Turkey were used to wash hands ritually during the Passover seder. Owned by the Benguiat family, a large and prominent Sephardic family in the Ottoman Empire, the objects…
Flags like this, made of paper, decorated, and attached to a stick—sometimes with an apple and a small lit candle atop it—were commonly carried by children during Simḥat Torah celebrations. The…