Portions of Four Masoretic Manuscripts
Portions of Four Masoretic Manuscripts
MS.000878.1-.4
Manuscript
ca. 1100s
The Levant
Hebrew
Ink on Parchment
7.3 × 6.1 × 13.8 in. (18.5 × 15.5 × 2 cm)
On View in The History of the Bible, Translating the Bible
Containing portions of Jeremiah, Zechariah, Proverbs, and Chronicles, with masorah parva and magna, these four Hebrew manuscripts are early examples of the Masoretic Text. However, unlike most Hebrew Bible manuscripts written in the region around Egypt, these texts do not follow the standard format exemplified in the well-known Aleppo Codex. These manuscripts were written around 200 years after the Aleppo Codex was completed, but perhaps this scribe was not aware of the Aleppo Codex—which was in Fustat, Egypt, during the 12th century.
Created ca. 1100s in the Levant.[1] Consigned before July 2016 to Bloomsbury Auction House by an American dealer of books and manuscripts;[2] Purchased at auction in 2016 by the Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma;[3] Donated in 2021 to The Signatry, Overland Park, Kansas; Deaccessioned in 2022 and returned to Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, under the curatorial care of Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Notes: [1] The paleography suggests that these manuscripts could have been written in Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, or Syria (according to modern borders). The crude modern binding appears to be done by someone unfamiliar with conserving and rebinding ancient parchment and was added prior to their consignment to Bloomsbury. [2] The provenance research for these texts is ongoing. Currently, the museum has no additional ownership information before the private American dealer consigned them to Bloomsbury Auction House. [3] Western Manuscripts and Miniatures, Bloomsbury House London, 6 July 2016, Lot 45.
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