These two beautifully adorned pages are from a small siddur created in the environs of Lisbon near the end of the 15^th century (shortly before the expulsion of Jews from Portugal in 1497). The precise details of the ornamentation—the filigree penwork, the decorated initial word panels, the graceful floral borders, are distinctive and characteristic of manuscript decorated at that time and place. 

The small size of the siddur tell us that it was produced for individual use. The fine quality of its production, including the abundant gold leaf, tell us that its owner was wealthy.  

The pages shown here are from the opening of Pirkei Avot—the “Chapters of the Fathers”—read on Sabbaths between Passover and Shavuot.