Rothschild Vienna Mahzor 15th Century Hebrew Prayerbook Sold for $6.4m

Sotheby’s in New York has sold the rare Rothschild Vienna Mahzor Hebrew prayerbook for $6.4 million.

Created in Vienna in 1415, the High Holiday prayer book reflects the achievements of Ashkenazi manuscript production. Written in an elegant Hebrew script, the Mahzor preserves the liturgy for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and is only the second monumental illuminated Ashkenazi mahzor to appear on the market in more than a century. It is one of just three such manuscripts known to remain in private hands.

The Mahzor takes its name from its 19th century owners, the Rothschild banking family. Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (1774–1855) acquired the manuscript in 1842 in Nuremberg as a gift for his son Anselm (1803–1874). It was passed down to his son Nathaniel, and later to his nephew Alphonse in 1906, becoming part of the family’s extensive collection of exquisite art and objects.

Following the Anschluss in March 1938, the Nazis seized the Rothschild Palais in Vienna,  home of Alphonse and his wife Clarice who were in England at the time. The residence and its contents were seized, stripping the family of legal ownership, and the Rothschild art collection and library were inventoried at a storage facility before being dispersed. Some works were allocated to museums, others entered the art market, but a small portion of the library including the Mahzor was sent directly to the Austrian National Library where it went unrecognized as Nazi-looted property for decades. The Mahzor bore no markings of confiscation and was not subject to restitution immediately after World War II.

The Mahzor resurfaced the to the public in 2021 when it was loaned by the Austrian National Library for an exhibition celebrating the legacy of the Viennese branch of the Rothschild family, and only recently was restituted to the descendants of Alphonse and Clarice.

Prior to the auction, the manuscript was exhibited at Sotheby’s headquarters at the Breuer Building in New York where it attracted considerable scholarly and public interest.

Top prices achieved for Hebrew manuscripts at auction at Sotheby's New York include:

• Codex Sassoon, circa 900, Land of Israel or Syria, sold in May 2023 for $38m
• The Luzzatto High Holiday Mahzor illuminated Ashkenazic Prayer Book, Southern Germany, late 13th-early 14th century, sold in October 2021 for $8.3m
• The Shem Tov Bible, Soria (Castile). 1312, sold in September 2024 for $6.9m