Page 259 - גנזי קדם ז

A Unique and Early Use of Micrographic Carpet Page Format 29*

working with a sheet that either he or a predeccesor had already cut to size
subsequent to the copying of the midrash.35

This being the case, it is likely that the carpet page was executed
independently of the midrashic text, after the latter had been discarded and
trimmed. It is eminently possible, in view of the layout ofthe page, that whoever
designed and executed the carpet page did the trimming himself. Therefore the
liturgical-talismanic functions suggested above predominate as explanations
for its nature and function. Given the prominence of “micrographic drawing”,
including its application in the design of carpet pages in early Genizah codices,
along with the proclivity for liturgical florilegia in medieval liturgies, including
those consisting of beatitudes, one is tempted to suggest that the particular
use of such techniques examined here was not limited to the present instance.
Rather, it may have been manifest in countless decorative items intended for
personal use. We are lucky to have the present example to call attention to
these possibilities.

highly unlikely that such a page was planned: not only was this one laid out and executed on
a piece of parchment that had been carefully trimmed, but the abstract verbal iconography
of its spatial semantics clearly implies that it was designed and intended to be used as a
single sheet.
35 While scribes could design a single page, Sirat (n. 26 above), pp. 169-171, points out that
they normally thought in terms ofthe opening oftwo facing pages, and designed the layout
in a geometric arrangement that allowed for larger margins on the outside and bottom and
smaller ones on the inside and top. Although it is possible that our page was trimmed after
the carpet page had been created, that would not explain the crowded, asymmetrical spacing
on the right side. It should be noted that a scribe could design an off-axis element which
affected the overall impression given by the layout of his page with a definite purpose in
mind; see Milstein (n. 14 above), p. 438 [Milstein (n. 16 above), p. 435].