Beginning in the fourteenth century, kabbalists used relatively simple diagrams resembling Porphyrian trees to map the pathways between the various facets of the Godhead known as the ten sefirot (lit., spheres). With the advent of Lurianic Kabbalah and its far more complex theosophy in the sixteenth century, these ilanot (lit., trees) took on highly ramified forms that sought to visualize the stages of divine emanation from Ein sof (The Infinite) downward. Inscribed on long vertical scrolls known as rotuli, ilanot were often accompanied by texts and charts that supplemen🐎ted or explained the graphic illustrations.

The present lot is a miniature ilan intended primarily for apotropaic use as an amulet, rather than for study or mystical contemplation. According to the text at its base, “This holy ilan is a charm [good] for any purpose: for finding favor, success, [protection against] the Evil Eye, a woman in labor, [protection against] harmful spirits, demons, and plague—may it never befall us. And one must place it in a silver case and hang it upon oneself.” Such ilanot were produced by a few industrious scribes in commercial quantities in the late♑ nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in North Africa and Jerusalem. This one was apparently acquired by Lady Rachel Ezra (1877-1952)💛 in Jerusalem and presented by her to her brother David Solomon Sassoon on June 12, 1922.

Physical Description

Rotulus of 1 membrane (32 1/2 x 1 7/8 in.; 825 x 47 mm) made of parchment; written in elegant Eastern square (incipits, some sefirot, and emphasized texts) and semi-cursive (text body) scripts in black ink; highly ramified diagrams of the sefirot. Slight wear along lefthand siꦓde. Housed in a small Royal Vinolia metal canister with lid, the lips of both the canister and the🌠 lid slightly deformed.

Literature

J.H. Chajes, The Kabbalistic Tree (University Park, PA: Penn State University Pre💖ss, 2022), 290-306 (ch. 6).

The Haifa University Ilanot Project ()

David Solomon Sassoon, Ohel Dawid: Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London, vol. 1 ([Oxford]: Oxford ෴University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, 1932), 565 (no. 555).