The Rothschild Vienna Mahzor, said to be one of the most important illustrated Hebrew prayer books of medieval Europe is to sell in New York. The book was stolen by the Nazis during World War II and kept in an Austrian library until 2021.
The volume dates back to 1415, when it was inscribed and illustrated by the artist, Moshe ben Menahem in what is now Austria. It will be sold at Sotheby’s on February 5, when it is predicted to realised from $5 million to $7 million.
It is a collection of Jewish prayers in Hebrew with rich illustrations and illuminations. It would probably have been used by a community at Jewish High Holidays.
The work in the book reflects the Lake Constance School, an influential style in both Christian and Jewish art that flourished around the lake at the modern borders of southern Germany, northern Switzerland, and Austria.
The illustrations in the book are rich and colourful, and in a style that has a strong regional character at the heart of Europe. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Its history is known since its 1841 purchase by Solomon Mayer Rothschild, a Viennese member of the famous European banking family.
He paid 151 gold coins for the book and it became a treasured family heirloom.
Until 1938, when the German Nazi regime annexed Austria, bringing their anti-Jewish laws with them. The Rothschild family’s homes and possessions were seized, including this book.
After the end of World War II, the book ended up in the Austrian National Library.
There the book was buried. It wasn’t catalogued until the 1990s when it was recognised as a major work and became the subject of a good deal of academic study.
But it wasn’t returned to the family from whom it was stolen until 2021.
This will be its first public auction.
“The Rothschild Vienna Mahzor stands not only as a masterpiece of medieval illumination but also as a symbol of extraordinary historical perseverance,” Sharon Liberman Mintz, Sotheby’s Judaica specialist said in a statement. “Its six-century journey mirrors the broader story of Jewish resilience.”
This is believed to be just the second such book to come to market, following the sale of a late 13th – early 14th Century Mahzor in 2021. That realised $8.3 million.
Historic Jewish manuscripts can be extremely valuable. In 2023, the Codex Sassoon, an 1,100-yea-old copy of the Hebrew Bible sold for $38.1m.
