This codex contains prayers, blessings and poems for a wedding
ceremony, following the custom of the Jews of the island of Corfu.
Additional poems are by a variety of poets, some by writers of the
Hebrew Golden Age in medieval Spain, others by local authors, such
as Elieser de Mordo. This manuscript is of great significance due
to a cycle of sixty full-page illustrations from the Book of
Genesis, executed in gouache. The illustrations are accompanied by
Hebrew inscriptions, usually biblical verses identifying the
scenes. They are the work of an artist, probably trained in Venice,
who added his monogram in different variants (MC or M.C. MF.) to
almost all of the illustrations. The left to right sequence of the
pages suggests that a Christian artist must have first created the
illustrations, and that the Hebrew texts were added afterwards.
This manuscript from the first half of the 18th century, created on
the island of Corfu, may have been a bridal gift from a member of
the de Mordo family, a family which played an important role on the
island at a time when the Venetian rule had to be defended against
Ottoman attacks.
