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The printing revolution of the 15th century rendered the Jewish tradition of hand-written and illustrated manuscripts nearly obsolete. However, the first half of the 18th century witnessed a revival of the art of decorated manuscripts comissioned in large part by “Court Jews”. These wealthy Jews served as treasures and economic advisors to European royalty and nobility, helping finance their regimes and their wars.
Court Jews often filled the interiors of their homes with finery, including personally comissioned, exquisitely illustrated hand-written manuscripts, especially haggadot (read during the Passover festival) and prayer books. Close to 500 such manuscripts are known to have been created during the revival, which lasted only a few decades.
The earliest example that has been discovered is the Gutwirth-Zucker Prague Haggadah (c. 1707) which you see here. It is a testament to a remarkable historical phenomenon: the reemergence of the illuminated hebrew manuscripts in the 18th century.