Barcelona Haggadah

Folio 30

Folio 30

End of the four questions and verso, ‘We were slaves … but the Lord brought us out …’ A biblical scene illustrates the text ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt’. In the right-hand margin two Egyptians enter the scene on horseback, the first pointing to the events unfolding before them in the panel. The lower border of the frame represents the ground in a scene taken from the Israelites’ slavery, in which an Egyptian taskmaster beats a slave with a triple-lashed whip. A second slave climbs a ladder, with bricks, on his back, carrying them towards a man wearing a tall hat and holding a hammer, standing in the tower they are building. Beside him on the tower is another slave who has been laying bricks and holds a trowel in his hand. He faces the inner margin of the page, where a labourer hauling on a pulley hoists a basket of bricks. These have been manufactured by Israelites shown at the bottom of the page, one treading materials to mix them, while his companion arranges the bricks in the sun to dry. A youth holds up bricks, beyond the tree on the left, linking this scene visually to the building above. The construction methods and the clothing of the Israelites and Egyptians are all contemporary, as was customary in medieval illustrations. The right and upper margins are filled with vines sprouting acorns, but at the top, over the initial word ‘slaves’, a hare seated on a throne-like chair is offered a drink by a servile standing dog holding a golden goblet and decanter.

Leaf size is approximately 255 x 190mm (10 x 7.5in)

In stock

£135.00

In stock

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