Sefer Ahavah title-panel, illuminated manuscript

Facsimile of a page with a decorated title-panel of Sefer Ahavah (Book of Love) from the second book of the Mishneh Torah. Spain and Italy, 14th century.
This is one of the most elaborately decorated manuscripts of the Mishneh Torah. In the absence of a colophon, it can be inferred from the script that the manuscript was copied either in Spain or southern France in the first half of the 14th century (in any case, before 1351, when the codex was sold in Avignon). The scribe's name was probably Isaac, since this name is decorated in several places in the text. The manuscript was illuminated in burnished gold and lively wash colors by a skilled non-Jewish artist of Perugia by the name of Matteo di Ser Cambio.

Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, Heb. 4* 1103