Las páginas tapiz hebreas a partir de sus textos

Elvira Martín-Contreras

doi:10.3989/sefarad.020-001

Abstract

En este artículo se examinan los textos escritos en forma de decoraciones micrográficas que aparecen en las llamadas páginas tapiz de dos de los códices bíblicos hebreos más antiguos, el códice de Profetas de el Cairo y el códice de Leningrado (B19a), para analizar su posible relevancia en la evaluación y comprensión de las páginas tapiz hebreas. La lectura de estos textos revela un contenido comprensible, lleno de sentido, que no ha perdido su función como transmisor de un mensaje. También revela que el tipo de texto más usado es el de la Masora. Teniendo en cuenta los resultados, se puede concluir que la finalidad de las páginas tapiz es doble, decorativa y funcional. Estas páginas desempeñan la misma función que los márgenes de los manuscritos: recoger el material extra textual relativo al texto bíblico hebreo.

Highlights

ELVIRA MARTÍN-CONTRERASThe carpet pages found in some medieval Hebrew Bible codices are usually studied as part of the decoration programme of a codex
What would happen if the focus shifted to the texts contained in the carpet pages? Would the interpretation change? This paper explores these texts in order to analyse their possible relevance with regard to evaluating and understanding Hebrew carpet pages
The writing is a fundamental element in the composition of these carpet pages, as important as the ornamental elements, or even more so

Summary

Introduction

The carpet pages found in some medieval Hebrew Bible codices are usually studied as part of the decoration programme of a codex. They have been widely examined in the field of Jewish art, where scholars have described and interpreted their designs and motifs. As carpet pages are a characteristic feature of the earliest extant Hebrew illuminated manuscripts, 7 I have chosen two of them for this study They are famous, and their text and codicological characteristics have been profusely studied. Both are biblical codices, have carpet pages with some similarities and are separated by more than 100 years They are: (i) the Cairo Codex of the Prophets (C), 8 dating, according to its colophon, back to 894/5 and penned by Moshe ben Asher in Tiberias.

10 Critical editions

Carpet Pages in the Cairo Codex of the Prophets 11

Conclusion