Bifolium from a Children's Alphabet Primer
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Documents preserved in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, Egypt (882), provide a rich account of Jewish life, liturgy, and religion in the early Islamic world. The Genizah testifies to the shift from Greek to Arabic, the adoption of the codex form, and the development of new forms of calligraphy and textual/critical apparatus by Jews during this period. The Cambridge scholar Solomon Schechter discovered the documents in 1896.
This Hebrew alphabet primer for children from the Cairo Genizah opens with a depiction of the menorah encased in an arch and flanked by two six-pointed stars, a symbol seen in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic arts of the period. Schoolchildren learning to write filled in the outlines of the Hebrew letters with colored inks.
This Hebrew alphabet primer for children from the Cairo Genizah opens with a depiction of the menorah encased in an arch and flanked by two six-pointed stars, a symbol seen in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic arts of the period. Schoolchildren learning to write filled in the outlines of the Hebrew letters with colored inks.
Artwork Details
- Title: Bifolium from a Children's Alphabet Primer
- Date: 11th-12th century
- Geography: Made in Egypt, from the Cairo Genizah
- Medium: Blue, red, and yellow ink on parchment; bifolium
- Dimensions: 6 9/16 x 9 3/16 in. (16.7 x 23.4 cm)
- Classification: Manuscripts
- Credit Line: Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection, Cambridge (T-S K5.13)
- Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters