In the Bible, Esther is an Israelite orphan who becomes queen at a young age and then collaborates with her uncle and a foreign king to foil the plans of a man who would destroy her people. This beautiful design expresses many aspects of the story of Esther in a small space. We see Esther’s dual identity in the “split screen” depiction of her face and environment. On the right is the beautiful Israelite and the menorah representing her heritage. On the left she wears her queenly headdress and other regalia, and sumptuous tapestries surround her. In The Art of The Saint John’s Bible Susan Sink reports
Although [these images] are not based on the period in the story, they are taken from pieces in the region that are marks of royalty and weddings. Esther’s queenship is marked by finery and “cosmetic” treatments, crowned by a gold figure of the lion of Babylon and by rich Persian rugs. The images on the left side of the illumination are inspired by Turkmen (Afghan) traditional bridal gifts and ancient Persian gold artifacts such as coins, jewelry, and textiles.(Vol. 3, p. 68)
Sink further notes, “The face of Queen Esther…is based on a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt.” Bloch-Bauer was Klimt’s patroness, married at age 18 to a man 17 years older. By using Adele as his model, artist Donald Jackson alludes to the existence of such “May-December” marriages throughout history (Sink, vol. 3, p. 67).
Hanging at the lower left we see what happened to the treacherous official, named Haman; the image is apparently based on images of public executions in Saudi Arabia and is intended to cause viewers to reflect on the presence of violence and war in current events (Sink, vol. 3, p. 68).