The figure at the back may be Boaz (with an ass’ head), and the scene may be referring to the verse in the Book of Ruth (2:15-16) in which Boaz admonishes his people to “let her glean among the sheaves and do not reproach her. On the right side, Ruth appears with an animal head she holds a sickle in her hand and gleans among four figures one holds a rake while another binds the sheaves. The blare of the shofar grew louder and louder” (Exodus 19:18-19). Shofars and trumpets emerge from the sky, alluding to the biblical passages that “the whole mountain trembled violently.
In the first group are seven men wearing pointed medieval hats behind them, in the second group, stand animal-headed women gazing piously at the heavens and praying. The men and women of Israel are assembled reverently in separate groups to witness the revelation at Sinai. Behind Moses stands Aaron, hands folded, wearing the miter of a medieval bishop. A beardless young Moses kneels at the foot of the mountain as two rectangular inscribed tablets of the Ten Commandments are handed to him. The miniature illustration depicts the theophany at Sinai below the gold Hebrew letters of the word Adon. Machzor (prayerbook for the holidays), Southern Germany, approx.
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