Ultra-rare 15th-century mahzor features vivid medieval illustrations

An exquisitely illuminated 15th-century Jewish prayer book, once owned by the Rothschild banking dynasty, is expected to sell for up to £5.2 million ($7 million) when it goes under the hammer in New York this February.

The manuscript — known as the Rothschild Vienna Mahzor — was completed in 1415 and is celebrated for its remarkably preserved pigments, from cinnabar red to lapis blue, that remain strikingly vibrant more than six centuries after they were applied. Its pages contain elaborate depictions of human figures, lions, birds and intricate Gothic motifs.

Created for the High Holy Days, the mahzor includes Hebrew prayers for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Scholars believe it was assembled in Vienna, its exceptional craftsmanship suggesting it was intended for communal ritual use rather than private devotion.

Only around 20 illustrated Jewish prayer books of this kind survive, their tradition rooted in 13th-century southern Germany. Just three remain in private hands, including this volume. Another, the Luzzatto High Holiday Mahzor, sold at Sotheby’s in 2021 for $8.3 million.

The Rothschild volume’s provenance traces back to Salomon Mayer Rothschild, who purchased it in Nuremberg in 1842 for 151 gold coins as a gift for his son Anselm Salomon. An illuminated title page bearing the Rothschild baronial coat of arms marks the family’s ownership, which continued through several generations.

Its fate changed abruptly following the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. Just days after the invasion, the Rothschild Palais in Vienna was seized and its collections confiscated. The prayer book was absorbed into the Austrian National Library, where it remained for decades.

Its significance resurfaced only after Austria enacted legislation in 1998 to address Nazi-looted art. Scholars from the Centre for Jewish Art identified the Rothschild crest, enabling the manuscript to be formally restituted to the family. In a statement, Alphonse Rothschild’s descendants said the return represented “a small measure of closure to a pain that has echoed through generations.”

The mahzor will be exhibited at Sotheby’s new global headquarters in New York’s Breuer building from 11–16 December, before travelling to Los Angeles in January. It will return to New York for display during Masters Week ahead of the 5 February auction. Photo via Sotheby’s.