Jacob the Knight in Ezekiel's Chariot: Imagined Identity in a Micrography Decoration of an Ashkenazic Bible

Abstract

In an Ashkenazic Bible produced in the thirteenth century, we find a unique micrography decoration portraying Ezekiel's vision. On the bottom margin the Masorah micrography shows the full bodies of the four creatures: the lion facing the ox, and the man, in full armor and holding an object in each hand, facing the eagle. I suggest that the choice to portray the human figure in this micrography as an armored knight can be explained by reference to the tradition describing seeing Jacob's image engraved on the throne in Ezekiel's vision, as also reflected in the writings of Hasidei Ashkenaz. The decoration identifies the human figure as Jacob, which may illustrate the verse 'Avir Ya‘akov, meaning “mighty one of Jacob” or Jacob the Knight.

Bestiary Imagery in Hebrew Manuscripts of the Thirteenth Century

“…This study is part of an increasingly rich scholarly landscape that explores the intimate, and not always polemical, interactions between Jews and Christians in western medieval Europe (key works, all with further literature, include Berger 2010; Shatzmiller 2013; Baumgarten and Galinsky 2015;Barzilay et al 2022). Katrin Kogman-Appel (2000; Sarit Shalev-Eyni (2005; and Sara Offenberg (2015Offenberg ( , 2021b, have made significant contributions to our understanding of the role that visual imagery played in the multifaceted ways medieval Ashkenazi Jews responded to, rejected, incorporated, and transformed Christian imagery in their own books. Marc Epstein, in particular, has long been at the forefront of investigating the contours of animal lore in Jewish art (Epstein 1997(Epstein , 2019, a subject recently taken up by Elina Gertsman (2022Gertsman ( , 2023.…”