War Elephants and Fighting Figures: The Materiality of the Art of War in the Micrography of MS. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France héb. 8-9-10

The three-volume bible MS. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France héb. 8-9-10, produced in Ashkenaz (German lands) in 1304, is rich in figured micrography, sometimes with floral or geometric motifs and sometimes with beasts or human figures drawn in an iconography familiar from Ashkenazi Mahzorim. This paper focuses on the masorah figurata (figurative Masorah) of beasts, among them war elephants and fighting figures. The micrography may comprise more than the Masoretic Text, which assists in the proper reading the Bible, but also includes further subject matter, all of which, together with the decorative program, reveal a complex artistic plan. Against a background of contemporary textual and artistic evidence, the realia of the images portrayed shall be studied; we may relate to the materiality of both the production of the manuscript and its figures (comprise by words), as well to the knowledge sources of the Jewish patrons commissioning this bible.