Page from a dispersed manuscript containing the Book of Genesis, China, Kaifeng, 17th-18th century, Ink on parchment, On loan from the Royal Ontario Museum, 931.18.3.B (Bishop William C. White Collection)

Page from a dispersed manuscript containing the Book of Genesis, China, Kaifeng, 17th-18th century, Ink on parchment, On loan from the Royal Ontario Museum, 931.18.3.B (Bishop William C. White Collection)

Verses from the Book of Genesis appear on this page written by a member of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, most likely in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Little is known about these people, who may have been the descendants of traders from Iran, but inscriptions reveal that a synagogue was constructed in Kaifeng in 1163 and rebuilt several times before it was finally demolished in the nineteenth century. Surviving manuscripts from this synagogue include both silk-sewn Torah scrolls and smaller books in codex form.

Royal Ontario Museum

17-18th century

Photographer credit: Courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum

Royal Ontario Museum

Dimensions: 19.1 x 17.7 cm

Materials: Ink on parchment

Hebrew

ROM 931.18.3.B

China, Kaifeng