Page 249 - גנזי קדם ז

A Unique and Early Use of Micrographic Carpet Page Format 19*

recorded in its central area. Thus, in enclosing within the majuscule-script
border representation of a type of personality the micrographic encapsulations
of such a character’s varied interior hopes and desires, it is a sophisticated and
accomplished production, an abstract — and holistic — representation of a
paradigmatic type14 which I would call “the pious petitioner.” 15

In a study of symbolism in Hebrew book illuminations of the Fatimid
era (909-1171),16 Rachel Milstein called attention to a carpet page design
component consisting of a lozenge atop a circle with two lines extending out on
either side, from the end of which another line extends upward, each ending in
a triangular shape. These shapes and lines constitute an abstract outline of an
“orant,” a figure with hands raised and extended upward in prayer.17 Inasmuch
as this orant was composed of a micrographic rendering ofthe shem a lection, an
abstract, and very dynamic, icon resulted. The words of the shem a themselves
shaped the figure uttering them, and the figure was wholly comprised of its
devotional declaration of faith.

14 Rachel Milstein supplies a paradigm for such micrographic structuring, albeit a more
representational one, in her description of architecturally structured space and the design
of elements within it, executed, largely in micrography, in Hebrew Bibles contemporary
with our item. Significantly, according to this paradigm different areas and objects are
constructed using passages drawn from different subject areas: “the words inscribed in the
upper zone generally refer to God...The arch is usually made up of verses speaking of
the Torah, and the lower parts and extensions are often composed of verses of blessing...”
See R. Milstein, “Hebrew Book Illumination in the Fatimid Era,” inL ’Egypte fatimide —
son art et son histoire; actes du colloque organise a Paris, mai 1998, sous la direction de
Marianne Barrucan (Paris 1999), pp. 429-440, esp. pp. 435-436.

15 The use of florilegia of beatitudes to celebrate and define a religious or spiritual type
goes back to the prelude to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-2). A florilegium of
non-biblical declarations beginning with the word ashre in Dead Sea Scroll fragment 4Q525
(4QBeat) functions to establish the type ofpersona characteristic of one who seeks wisdom,
see F. G. Martinez and E. C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Leiden
1997-1998), vol. 2, p. 1052.

16 R. Milstein, “The Language of Multi-Cultural Symbols inthe Earliest Biblical Decorations,”
in N. Ilan (ed.), The Intertwined Worlds ofIslam: Essays in Memory ofHavaLazarus-Yafeh
(Jerusalem 2002) [Hebrew], pp. 413-442.

17 Ibid, p. 432.