Illuminated Manuscript – Mincha and Arvit of Shabbat, with Piyyutim – Baghdad, 1885

Illuminated Manuscript – Mincha and Arvit of Shabbat, with Piyyutim – Baghdad, 1885

Illuminated manuscript, Mincha and Arvit for Shabbat, with the Kabbalat Shabbat service, Birkat HaMazon and piyyutim. [Baghdad], Kislev 1885.
Complete manuscript, masterfully scribed and decorated throughout in ink and paint. Pocket format. Square and semi-cursive Oriental script.
Illuminated title pages ("carpet pages"); enlarged, decorated initials with floral ornaments in various colors. Each page of text enclosed in a border, with additional ornaments.
Includes: Mincha for Erev Shabbat, Arvit of Shabbat, Birkat HaMazon, Mincha for Shabbat and piyyutim (mostly Shabbat songs). Three decorated title pages, the first for Mincha of Erev Shabbat and Arvit of Shabbat, the second for Mincha of Shabbat, and the third for the piyyutim.
Name of scribe and artist on the first title page: "Nissim Eliyahu Ezra Reuven Battat". Colophon on p. 89a (at the end of the Mincha of Shabbat), with the name of the scribe and the date – Kislev 1885, Parashat Vayetze.
The Battat family was a prominent Baghdadi family. The family's founder, Reuven Battat, who lived in Baghdad in 1750-1855, was a wealthy Torah scholar, and his descendants were amongst the prominent and wealthy members of the Baghdad community (see: The Jews of Iraq in Modern Times, by Avraham Ben Yaakov. Jerusalem, Kiryat Sefer, 1980, p. 86 [Hebrew]).

[108] leaves. Approx. 10 cm. Overall good condition. Stains, including ink stains. Dampstains and ink fading to a few leaves. Open tears to several leaves, repaired. Old leather binding, slightly damaged (new endpapers).

Reference: 101 Sacred Hebrew Songs, edited by Yair Harel and Uri Kroizer. Jerusalem, [2017], p. 26 and p. 97.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IQ.011.003.