The Illuminated Word The Qur’an 650 -1930

An exhibition of sixty manuscripts and pages

6th - 24th October 2008

Prices of each item are available on request.

Sam Fogg Ltd. 15D Clifford Street, London W1S 4JZ

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The Illuminated Word: The Qur’an, 650-1930 The Qur’an, God’s eternal and uncreated word, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the Arabic language and first written down as a single volume by the mid-seventh century AD. It was seen as imperative that the scripts used to copy the holy text should differ from the every-day scripts of other written works, such as edicts and state documents; Qur’anic scripts thus claimed ‘hieratic’ status, proportionate to their sanctity. Due to their elegance and symmetry, early Qur’anic scripts such as ‘Hijazi’ and ‘Kufic’ (named after the town of Kufah in Iraq), were deemed especially suitable to reflect the divine status of the Qur’an as a sacred text. Arabic thus has a special status as the true language of the Qur’an. In the early years of Qur’an manuscript production, parchment (animal hide) became the most popular writing material because of its robust quality. However, the expense of its manufacture limited production to smaller-sized volumes, which in the ninth and tenth centuries were predominantly oblong in format. The combination of this smaller-sized manuscript format with the elongated, bold and imposing nature of the hieratic scripts, which frequently only allowed a few lines per page, often resulted in the Qur’an being produced in multiple volumes. These sets could come in as many as 30 parts, which could each be recited separately over a period of time, perhaps during momentous occasions such as the month of Ramadan. Larger vellum Qur’ans were, however, also commissioned in various other styles and formats during the early Islamic period. In the ninth century, when Qur’an production in the Abbasid period (750-1258 AD) was at its apogee, Kairouan (in modern-day Tunisia) remained one of the main centres of production. A fine example dating from this period displayed in the exhibition is a single leaf showing a stately Kufic script, executed with subtly controlled horizontal and vertical proportions of the letter forms. The magnificent execution of the illuminated surah (chapter) heading reflects the highly disciplined hand with which this Qur’an was copied (cat. no. 9). The introduction of paper from China in the tenth century allowed greater freedom for artistic expression in Qur’an production, and it is during this period that the practice of illuminating Qur’anic text began to flourish. Vibrant and expressive colours such as gold, red, blue, and green were used first to decorate surah headings, but gradually extended to decorating elaborate marginal ornaments, verse stops and frontispieces. The use of gold, in particular, was seen as especially appropriate in reflecting the sanctity and beauty of the Word of God. Illumination became steadily more ornate with the emergence of new, more legible scripts during the eleventh century. Less angular and symmetrical, the beauty and fluidity of cursive scripts such as naskh and muhaqqaq allowed the calligrapher greater freedom of movement on the page, and thus provided more variety and diversity in the decorative repertoire as well as in the illumination. The Kufic script had by this time also spread and developed into new styles in the Western Mediterranean; particularly distinctive calligraphic variations developed in North Africa and Spain, where Maghribi and Andalusi scripts enjoyed prominence. In addition, the format of Qur’ans produced in these areas differed in several ways: not only did parchment continue to be the preferred writing material long after the introduction of paper into the Islamic world, but the main format of production was vertical, rather than horizontal, in style. Decorative styles in surah headings, marginal ornaments and verse stops, for example, showed more stylized geometric motifs and a wider colour palette. The necessary expense in producing such elaborately embellished copies of the Qur’an restricted artistic patronage to the wealthy elite and the royal courts; in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries new techniques in calligraphic styles and illumination in the court workshops of the

Mamluks, Ilkhanids and Timurids saw a new height of manuscript production, particularly of Qur’ans. These were frequently commissioned as pious endowments, or waqf, to reflect the ruler’s eternal dedication to his faith. A particularly magnificent and visually striking example in the present exhibition is an exceptionally rare and unusual section from a Mamluk Qur’an executed in muhaqqaq script, and containing an extensive marginal commentary, unusual for royally commissioned Mamluk Qur’ans of any period. This copy is a masterwork of planning and execution, and an extremely significant example of early Mamluk art. The style and quality of the illumination suggests that this was the work of a master artist, very likely Muhammad b. Mubadir, one of the foremost illuminators in Mamluk Cairo at the turn of the thirteenth century (cat. no. 28). Artistic patronage was not, however, limited to the greater empires of the Mamluks, Ilkhanids or Timurids during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; the Jala’irid dynasty, a successor-state to the Ilkhanids, was in rule for less than a century in the area that is today Iraq, Kurdistan and Azerbaijan. A rare example exhibited here is a unique large fourteenth century leaf from a selection of verses from the Qur’an, probably completed during the Jala’irid period in Baghdad and completed circa 1370 AD. The superbly measured and flowing muhaqqaq script, as well as the precise and controlled hand, is remarkable in a script of this size, as is the consistency of the gold outline to the letters. Not surprisingly, the style of illumination resembles that of Ilkhanid-period Qur’ans. It was completed by ‘Abu Muhammad ‘Abd al-Qayyum ibn Muhammad ibn Karamshah-i Tabrizi’. The eponym ‘Tabrizi’ further points to the migratory nature of craftsmen during the late fourteenth century, when scribes and illuminators moved across the empire, in particular to Tabriz and to Shiraz, which would later become main centres of Qur’an manuscript production (cat. no. 32). In Sultanate India, the Qur’an developed into its own unique art form between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, drawing heavily on the Persian tradition of Qur’an production; only a small number of Islamic manuscripts have survived from the pre-Mughal period in India in anything other than fragmentary form. Unfavourable climatic conditions and political instability probably account for the widespread destruction of manuscripts from this period. A major highlight of this exhibition is a spectacular Sultanate Qur’an, complete in three volumes, and luxuriously decorated. The text is written in black, red, blue and gold ink, with four vibrantly decorated double-page openings. Complete Qur’ans in bihari script of this exceptional size and condition are extremely unusual. Qur’ans written in the bihari script appear mainly to be the product of fourteenth or fifteenth century India; this attribution is based on other studied manuscripts of the same area dating from 1399 to 1483. This Qur’an is a magnificent illustration of the vibrancy of the pre-Mughal tradition of Qur’an production (cat. no 38). A continued development in calligraphic styles and elaborate lavish illumination techniques from the sixteenth century onward are characteristic features of the Qur’ans of the great empires of the Safavids, Ottomans and Mughals. An outstanding and exceptionally well preserved Qur’an in the exhibition has all the hallmarks of the luxurious nature of the work of the sixteenth century Ottoman Empire. A double-page illuminated frontispiece containing the first and beginning of the second chapters shows the strong influence of Eastern Iranian traditions; the black borders above and below the text and the gold hasps projecting into the margins from the centre of the smooth border are reminiscent of early sixteenth-century Herati and Bukharan work. The Mughal Empire was also renowned for lavishing patronage on the arts, including the commissioning of Qur’ans. New styles within the artistic repertoire of Qur’an production include an increase in the number of illuminated spreads, lists of surahs, litanies of the ‘Ninety-Nine Names of God’ and illuminated finispieces, reflecting the luxury and opulence of the royal Mughal courts. A superb and elegant example of this exhuberant artistic style is displayed in a late seventeenth

century copy from North India, showing a striking local style. Qur’an production in North India was much less standardized than in Iran, perhaps due to the lack of royal commissions, and calligraphers and illuminators were thus left with greater freedom of artistic variation and invention. The three illuminated bifolia in the manuscript are of markedly different designs, using standard Indo-Persian patterns, with a blend of typical Persian and Indian colour palettes, and a combination of naskh, thulth and muhaqqaq scripts embellished by elaborately illuminated decorative motifs. Qur’ans such as these were often commissioned as magnificent gifts to shrines and other pious foundations (cat. no. 48). During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the general style and format of the Qur’an remained similar, although illumination became richer, especially in the decoration of the double-page frontispieces. Hand-written and illuminated copies of the Qur’an of exceptional standard continued to be produced during the nineteenth century despite the introduction of the new technique of lithography. Few manuscripts dating from before the nineteenth century have survived in Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa, although Islam spread steadily along the trade routes established soon after the Arab conquests in the seventh century. Surviving manuscripts, such as a prayer manual on display in this exhibition, reflect a distinctly West African tradition of manuscript copying and illumination. The bold geometric decorations in earth colours complement perfectly the distinctive type of North African Maghribi script commonly employed, and are testament to a vibrant and flourishing artistic tradition drawing on local as well as regional styles from the early nineteenth century through the twentieth century (cat. no. 56).

(10997) 1 Qur’an leaf in Kufic script Hijaz, Yemen or Egypt 8th century AD with vocalization added in the 10th century AD Surah 88 (al-Ghashiyya/ the Overwhelming), vv. 22 - Surah 89 (al-Fajr/ Daybreak), vv. 30

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 14 lines of brown Kufic script per page, restricted letter-pointing with two angled dashes to differentiate the letter ta, vocalization applied using red and green dots, occasional red tashdid symbols, further vocalization indicators in green, original single verse divisions marked with vertical rows of two or three dashes, later additions red and green, with small ha-shaped motifs at the fifth verses and the word madaniyan in a small hand in Kufic script in brown ink, tenth verse divisions marked with square or rounded knot-motifs outlined in brown ink decorated in red, green and browny-yellow, surah heading drawn in brown ink with loosely vegetal and geometric internal motifs, blank central panel, lower panel filled with an inscription enumerating verse, word and letter counts of the surah, majority of heading panel coloured in red, green and browny-yellow 20.5 x 32.7 cm The erratic script of the present leaf, containing elements associated with both Hijazi and Kufic scripts and with relatively poor lineal discipline, probably places the leaf in the late seventh or first decades of the eighth century, a stage of calligraphic development between the Hijazi and fully formed Kufic script. The lack of diacritic and orthographic markings suggest either that these were not yet in common use (perhaps 690-720 AD) and that coloured decoration within the surah heading was not commonplace, or that it was left unfinished at the original stage of production, with just the brown textual script and the outline design of the decorative features drawn in brown ink. The colouring and certain other features seem to have been added by a scribe or scholar with considerable theological knowledge perhaps some two hundred years later. The basic design of the surah heading, with a long lateral panel extending across the page and a stepped increase in height at the left end, is a type showing archaic features generally accepted as dating from the Umayyad period. Several other folios with related but even more primitive forms of surah heading panel, all of which have scripts of archaic type, exist in the Topkapi Saray

Library in Istanbul (inv. no. 194), in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (or. arabe 334) and in Sana’a, Yemen (Dar al-Makhtutat, inv. no. 00-28.1). We can tell from the verse count of Surah 89 (al-Fajr/ Daybreak) marked on this folio that the original verse numbering was organized according to a Hijazi tradition; this does not give us a firm geographical origin, but the Hijazi tradition (whether Meccan or one of the two Medinan traditions) was most often used in the early centuries of Islam in the Hijaz, Yemen and Egypt. Based on the evidence of the verse numbering, the original phase of this folio could be estimated at 720-75 AD (Medinan phase), while the primitive nature of the script and the archaic form of the surah heading panel indicate an earlier date, probably c. 720-50 AD. At a much later date, probably in the ninth century AD, the folio was annotated using different coloured inks probably, judging by the type of information added, by a Qur’anic scholar or a professional Qur’anic scribe. The additions consist of the coloured vocalization, the small stylized ha-shaped motifs, the word madaniyan in tiny letters, the vertical rows of red verse marker dots, the vertical rows of green verse marker dots in the final line of the verso, and finally, the small brown inscription written in a more cursive hand that has been squeezed into the lowest tier of the surah heading space. The later scholar or scribe has effectively annotated the folio according to the Medinan, Kufan and Basran traditions of verse numbering. The Medinan verse count was the original, but he has spelt it out in words, and at the same time added the other two traditions in colours. The word madaniyan, which appears both in the explanatory inscription in the surah heading panel and at the fifth verse divisions, is diagnostic. It is the dual form of the word madani, meaning ‘the two Medinan’ traditions explained above, and it indicates not only that the scholar or scribe knew both forms of the tradition, but that he cannot have written it until both forms of the Medinan tradition were established, around 775 AD. In fact, the inscription was probably written considerably later, because, although these traditions developed in the eighth century, they were not classified until the late ninth and early tenth century. The scribe or scholar has used both the red and green dots of the traditional vocalization system and certain symbols of the system associated with Khalil b. Ahmad al-Farahidi (d. 786 AD). These did also not seem to have come into common use on Qur’ans until the tenth century. Thus the evidence of both the verse-count nomenclature and the use of the ‘al-Khalil’ system of diacritics would indicate a date for the additions to this leaf of around the middle of the tenth century.

(10310003) 2 Qur’an leaf in Kufic script Near East or North Africa 8th century AD Surah 8(al-Anfal/the Spoils of War), vv. 52-72

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 17 lines of Kufic script in brown ink per page, no original letter-pointing, occasional later additions of letter-pointing in a grey ink, no vocalization, verse divisions marked with short vertical rows of brown ink dashes, tenth verse divisions marked with simple red circles, parchment slightly frayed at outer edges 13.5 x 18.6 cm The script of this small but very early folio exhibits certain slightly primitive features, and some letter-forms are close to the Hijazi script styles. This, along with the imperfect lineal discipline and the use of three-dot rows for verse markers, indicates an early origin, possibly during the later Umayyad period. Interestingly, some of the words were strengthened at a later date, perhaps during the tenth or eleventh century.

(8181) 3 Qur’an leaf in Kufic script Near East or North Africa Second half of 8th or early 9th century AD Surah 58 (al-Mujadilah/the Pleading Woman), vv. 1-8

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 16 lines of early Kufic script in sepia to the page, vowels in red, surah heading in gold on recto side, losses to text areas and with some repairs 25 x 19.5 cm The flowing script of this elegantly written leaf is an early Abbasid Kufic, which places the date of this page firmly in the second half of the eighth century or the very beginning of the ninth. Its style is transitional between Hijazi (that of the very earliest surviving Qur’ans) and the more familiar stately Kufic script, the letters being more horizontally compressed than the latter, and more vertically compressed than the former, except in the cases of vertical extensions (for example alifs and lams). In addition, the spacing of words on the page is rather crowded, like in Hijazi Qur’ans. Together with its considerable age, these idiosyncracies make this leaf, with its gleaming gold surah heading, of real interest. A contemporary leaf in a similar script, and with a surah heading in a similar style, is in the Nasser D Khalili Collection and appears in F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London, 1992, cat. no. 7, p. 53.

(4195) 4 Large Qur’an leaf in Kufic script Near East or North Africa Probably Umayyad, 8th century AD Surah 4 (al-Nisa’/the Women), vv. 123-30

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 16 lines of Kufic script per page, no original letter-pointing, later letter-pointing in brown ink dashes, vocalization in red and green dots, single verse divisions marked with three diagonal brown ink dashes, fifth verse divisions marked with letter alif in brown ink with decoration in brown and green, ink on the verso (hair side) worn and re-inked at a later date 32.4 x 39.1 cm This folio comes from a widely dispersed manuscript of the Qur’an that is notable for its singular script and archaic features. The script is characterized by horizontal stretching (mashq), a very rounded form to the terminal nun that visually punctuates the page, and a relatively tightly spaced layout, both in terms of the number of words and letters per line and in terms of the number of lines per page. There are other idiosyncrasies of the script, such as the distinctive medial fa/qaf and ‘ayn that sit above the line of script, attached by a very thin ligature to the base line. The terminal forms of the ‘ayns and ghayns in the present script are notable for their extended tail that loops back below the line further than in other styles. However, there are two manuscripts in which the terminal ‘ayn/ghayn form has at least some resemblance to the present example. One is a large fragment of eighty-one folios written in Hijazi script probably dating from c. 700 AD, now in the Russian Academy of Sciences (inv. no. E-10), and the other is a monumental copy of the Qur’an discovered in the Sana‘a Mosque cache and attributed to the Umayyad dynasty c. 710-15 AD (Dar al-Maktutat, Sana’a, inv. no. 20-33.1). Other features of this leaf that might be associated with early styles include the lack of original letter-pointing. The letter-pointing now present is almost certainly a later addition, perhaps during the tenth century, as it is applied in a much more crude and irregular manner than the script, and on the whole uses a darker ink. It is likely that the letter-pointing was applied within perhaps a century or two of the main script.

The single verse dividers consist of a row of three angled dashes applied in brown ink. This is a form that appears mostly on Hijazi and early Kufic material. Other manuscripts and leaves on which a row of angled dashes is used for verse markers include several fragments in Hijazi script, including the famous monumental Qur’an found in the Sana‘a Mosque cache and dated by Bothmer to about 710-15 AD, another fragment from Sana‘a also attributed to the eighth century, and several others probably from the eighth century. In a similar vein, the fifth verse markers on this Qur’an leaf are unusual, consisting of a large letter alif drawn in brown ink and segmented internally in brown and green. The most common device for marking the fifth verses, if indeed there was any special device, was a Kufic letter ha in gold, representing the number five in the abjad system (the system of assigning numerical values to letters of the Arabic alphabet). For other leaves from the same manuscript, see F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London, 1992, no. 66, pp. 120-122, and M. Fraser & W. Kwiatkowski, Ink and Gold, London, 2006, no. 4, pp. 27-29. For leaves with surah headings, see Christies, 15 October 1996, lot 47, and Sotheby’s, 29 April 1998, lot 2.

(11875) 5 Kufic Qur’an leaf with illuminated heading Near East or North Africa 8th century AD Surah 91 (al-Shams/ the Sun), v. 10 - Surah 93 (al-Duha/ the Morning Hours), heading

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 12 lines of black Kufic script, diacritics in red, black and green, 2 surah headings, one on recto, other on verso, in brown, green and red strapwork and palmettes with title written above in red Kufic script, fifth verses marked with alif illuminated in brown and green, tenth verses marked with brown and green knotted motif within roundel, trimmed with some damage 34.5 x 25 cm This Qur’an leaf with two illuminated surah headings, one on the verso, another on the recto, comes from the same well-known manuscript as the previous item. While many individual leaves have been published, leaves with illuminated surah headings are rarer. The long panel of twisting strapwork ending in palmettes is indicative of an early date, before the words of the surah title themselves became the central decorative motif. The geometric decorative motifs also bear a close connection to Byzantine manuscript illumination, a common occurrence in the decoration of early Qur’ans.

(11683) 6 Qur’an leaf in Kufic script Mesopotamia Abbasid Period, 9th century AD or earlier Surah 40 (Ghafir/ the Forgiver), vv. 41-42

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 5 lines of bold Kufic script in black ink, some notable elongations to the letters, without diacritics, gold dots as vocalisation marks, verse dividers in the form of gold rosettes, one small instance of corrosion in bottom corner, otherwise in good condition 22 x 15 cm ‘My people, do I call you unto salvation…..’ Early Qur’an production such as this reflected the purity of the word, self-sufficient and unadorned. The script is strong, showing significant, although not extreme, elongation of some letters. Another leaf from a very similar Qur’an is shown in F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London, 1992, no. 22, p. 70. He comments that the vocalization indicated by gold dots is a rather unusual occurrence.

(7639001) 7 Qur’an leaf in gold Kufic script Tunisia 9th century AD Surah 22 (al-Hajj/ Pilgrimage) vv. 37-40

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, approx. 5 lines of Kufic script in gold with sepia outlines to the page, vocalization in red dots, further diacritics marked with green and blue dots, individual verses marked with gold rosettes circled in blue, loss to edges 14.5 x 20 cm This leaf comes from a famous manuscript written entirely in gold, known to have once been housed in Kairouan. According to tradition, the practice of copying the Qur’an was introduced by the caliph ‘Umar, who was inspired by the gold inscription on the mosque in Medina. The use of gold ink, a luxury that could only be afforded by the very affluent, may indicate that the manuscript was commissioned by a wealthy member of society, or even a caliph. Other leaves from the same manuscript are found in various public and private collections, including the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the National Library and the National Institute of Archaeology, Tunis; Beit al-Qur’an, Bahrain; the Tareq Rajab Museum and the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait; the Nasser D Khalili Collection, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (for a partial list, see F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London, 1992, p. 67).

(7847) 8 Qur’an section of 65 leaves in Kufic script Near East or North Africa 9th century AD Surah 17 (al-Isra’/ the Children of Israel), vv. 1–20, 29-111; Surah 18 (al-Kahf/ the Cave)

Arabic manuscript on parchment, 65 folios, 6 lines of elongated brown Kufic script to the page, vocalization in red, fifth verse divisions marked with a gold ha, tenth verse divisions with a gold rosette pointed in green and red, two surah headings in gold Kufic script outlined in black with illuminated palmettes extending into the outer margins, repairs to corners, modern green morocco binding with matching slipcase 10.2 x 15.3 cm This is a complete section in 65 leaves from a Qur’an dating to the ninth century. Small multi-volume Qur’ans in horizontal format with only a few lines of script to each page were popular in the ninth and tenth centuries. This juz’ would have formed the fifteenth of a set of thirty, with a juz’ for each day of the month. The verso of the final folio of the manuscript (f. 65v) contains a Safavid library inscription dated to 23 Ramadan 1014 AH/ 1 February 1606 AD, which is evidence of the mobility of such manuscripts in the pre-modern period. The script in this section is closest to the script called D.I by François Déroche, and is found on a number of Qur’an sections and leaves, mostly dating from the ninth century, including two leaves in the Khalili Collection (inv. nos. KFQ84 and KFQ64), and a folio from the ‘Amajur Qur’an in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul (inv. no. 1023). The final bifolium contains only four lines of script on each page, leaving a space around the text block which was probably meant to be filled with illuminated panels. The style of illumination throughout the manuscript is strikingly simple, with discreet gold devices marking fifth and tenth verses and only red dots for the vocalization. The surah headings are also charmingly simple, with the name of the surah and verse count in barely differentiated gold script, from the last letter of which a gold palmette stretches into the margin.

(9899) 9 Qur’an leaf in large format Near East or North Africa 9th century Surah 69 (al-Haqqa/the Reality), vv. 11-17

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 7 lines of elongated Kufic script in sepia to the page, vowels marked in red, verse markers in the form of six gold dots in the shape of a pyramid, tenth verse markers in gold rosette inscribed with the word ‘ashra (ten) 32 x 23 cm ‘Then when the Trumpet shall be blown a single time…’ This leaf belongs to a group of leaves from a luxurious manuscript made in the Near East or around Kairouan in North Africa, during the height of Abbasid Qur’an production. (see cat. nos. 10 & 11) The present example shows the subtle control of the proportions with which the letters were written, reflecting the elegance and stateliness for which the Kufic script is known. With less than five verses to each page, this Qur’an probably extended to multiple volumes, all on high-quality parchment and executed in an exceptionally disciplined hand. The leaf is in an exceptional condition, with clearly legible script and illuminated verse markers on both sides; the illumination of the surah heading is also remarkably well-preserved. A section from this Qur’an is in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran (no. 4289). It is illustrated in M. Lings The Qur’anic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, 1976, no. 5. Another leaf from the same Qur’an is in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, published in D. James, Qur’ans and Bindings from the Chester Beatty Library, 1980, no. 5, p. 18. James also lists other pages as belonging to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Pars Museum, Shiraz. A leaf from a similar Qur’an, also a seven-line folio, which was produced by an atelier associated with the Great Mosque of Kairouan, is illustrated in De Carthage à Kairouan- 2000 ans d’art et d’histoire en Tunisie, Paris, 1982, p. 245, no. 328.

(12797) 10 Qur’an leaf in Kufic script North Africa, probably Kairouan 9th century Surah 92 (al-Layl/ the Night), vv. 19-Surah 93 (al-Duha/ the Morning), v. 4

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 7 lines of Kufic script in brown ink to the page, added interlinear comments in a later Arabic hand, vocalisation in red dots, single verse divisions marked with triangular clusters of six gold dots, tenth verse division marked by an roundel in gold, red and blue inscribed with the word ‘ashrun (twenty), surah heading consists of title and verse count in gold ornamental Kufic on a floral background, set in a rectangular panel with plaited border, with a large gold medallion extending into the margin 32.4 x 22.8 cm ‘And none receives a favour from him for the sake of a reward…..’ This leaf belongs to the same manuscript as the previous item. A particularly elegant and striking feature of this leaf is the superbly designed surah heading consisting of a rectangular panel with a knotwork border and a delicately designed round peacock finial extending into the margin. The central panel, with the brightly coloured gold script of the illuminated surah title set on a red and gold floral background, reflects an artistry of the highest quality for which early Qur’ans such as the present example are famous.

(12661) 11 A large vellum Qur’an leaf Near East or North Africa 9th century Surah 95 (al-Tin/the Fig), v. 5 - Surah 96 (al-‘Alaq/the Clot), v. 4

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 7 lines of Kufic script in brown ink to the page, vocalisation in red dots, single verse divisions marked with triangular clusters of six gold dots, surah heading consists of title and verse count in gold ornamental Kufic and a large gold medallion in the margin 32.4 x 22.8 cm This leaf comes from the same luxury manuscript as the previous item. Here, however, the surah heading is quite different, but equally grand: the finely measured Kufic script has been rendered entirely in gold without a background and is left on the page in subtle elegance, ending in a sophisticated round finial of illuminated floral scrolls.

(7636) 12 Large Illuminated Qur’an leaf in Kufic script Near East or North Africa Late 9th century Surah 28 (al-Qasas/the Stories), vv. 85-86

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 5 lines of Kufic script in brown ink to the page, original letter-pointing formed by placing the nib-end down once on the page applied in the same brown ink as the text, vocalization applied with red, green, blue and yellow dots, fifth verse division marked within the text area by a letter ha in gold, and in the margin by a large illuminated medallion with a stylized radiating foliate design in gold and green containing the word khams in gold Kufic script 22.5 x 31.9 cm ‘He Who imparted the Qur’an to you will surely return you to a safe resort’ This leaf exhibits all the elegance and regularity for which Kufic script has come to be known. The horizontal and vertical discipline of the lines and letterforms is very strict and the spatial balance of the text area on the cream parchment is finely executed. The graphic intentions of the scribe are revealed in the exceptional arrangement of letters at the beginning of each line. The first two lines begin with two letters, dad and kaf, which although usually quite different, in this style of Kufic have very similar graphic forms, producing a visual repetition. The tall diagonal part of the kaf has been strongly curtailed, leaving a thin, almost invisible tail which is just sufficiently evident to indicate the letterform without affecting the visual intention of repeating the form of the letter above. On the lower three lines the scribe has arranged the spacing of the text to begin each line with an initial alif, again producing an emphatic visual repetition. The script on this large parchment Qur’an leaf is an example of the scripts described by Déroche as group D. These scripts are datable to the second half of the ninth century and the very early tenth century. The script on the present leaf has letter-pointing applied in brown ink, and it appears to be original to the manuscript. This is interesting since most scripts of this type have only occasional instances of letter pointing, or none at all. It seems that the absence of letter-pointing at this

period was related to the strong aesthetic intention of the scribes of these scripts to produce a flowing, rhythmic calligraphy with graphically precise lines uncluttered by the little brown dashes of the letter-pointing, thus maximizing their visual impact. In this case, the letter pointing makes the script more immediately legible, but its cluttering effect is kept to a minimum by using relatively small, thin and unobtrusive nib-end dashes nestled close to the relevant letters. A folio from the same Qur’an is illustrated in Bernard Quaritch Ltd., The Qur’an, Scholarship and the Arts of the Islamic Book, London, 1999, pp. 9–11, item 4. Another is in Wahudah al-funn al-islami, Riyadh, 1983, no. 2, p. 20. Two other Qur’an fragments have very similar scripts and dimensions to the present leaf, and one or other of them may be from the same multi-volume manuscript. One of these is a section including parts of Surah 7 (al-‘Araf) in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran (Ms. 4289), the other is a folio with the surah heading of Surah 22 (al-Haj) in the Museum of Islamic Arts, Kairouan (De Carthage à Kairouan- 2000 ans d’art et d’histoire en Tunisie, Paris, 1982, no. 331, p. 248; Lings and Safadi, The Qur’an, London, 1976, no. 10, pp. 21, 24). The Kairouan folio is slightly closer in style to the present one and, significantly, has letter-pointing of a similar type, while the Tehran volume does not.

(9640) 13 Large Qur’an leaf in Kufic script Near East or North Africa 9th century AD Surah 3 (al-‘Imran/ the House of ‘Imran), v. 154

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 7 lines of sepia elongated early Kufic script to the page, with red and green diacritical marks 30.5 x 22 cm ‘Then He sent down upon you, after the grief, as a security, slumber…’ This leaf is a fine example of large-scale early Abbasid Qur’an production, with seven lines of clear and well-spaced elongated Kufic. The script on this folio is similar to a version of early Kufic that is called ‘D1’ by F. Déroche in The Abbasid Traditon, London, 1992. The formation of the individual letters is much like a ninth century example in the Khalili Collection, illustrated on p. 68 of that book, no. 20, though it is more attenuated.

(11443) 14 Qur’an leaf in Kufic script Near East or North Africa 9th century AD Surah 2 (al-Baqara/the Cow), vv. 191-193

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 7 lines of black Kufic script per page, vocalisation in red and yellow dots, letter pointing in red strokes, verse divisions marked with pyramids of gold dots 27.2 x 36.7 cm The script on this monumental Qur’an leaf is close to that of the famous ‘Amajur Qur’an, which was endowed by the governor of Damascus in 875-6 AD to a mosque in Tyre. François Déroche has classified the group of manuscripts written in this variant of Kufic script as D.1 and has dated them to the ninth and tenth centuries (F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London, 1992, pp. 36-7). The regularity, elegant horizontal stretching (mashq) and spaciousness of this script make the leaf a classic example of its type. Other leaves from this manuscript are in the Musée des arts Islamiques in Kairouan (Carthage, no. 328), and another leaf was sold in Sotheby’s 24 October 2007, lot. no. 8.

(11403) 15 Qur’an bifolium in Kufic script Near East or North Africa Late 9th century AD Surah 10 (Yunus/ Jonah), vv. 101-09, Surah 11 (Hud/ Hud), vv. 1-4

Bifolium from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 10 lines of Kufic script in brown ink to the page, no letter-pointing, vocalization applied using red, yellow and blue dots, further symbols in red and blue, single verse divisions marked with a small triangular cluster of three dots in red, yellow and blue, fifth verse divisions marked with a stylized letter ha in gold, surah heading for Surah 11 (Hud) written in gold and silver Kufic script outlined in dark brown ink with a gold stylized palmette extending into the margin, word hizb is written vertically next to the palmette in black ink 17.5 x 26 cm ‘Behold what is in the heavens and the earth…’ There are several interesting aspects of this Qur’an bifolium. The vocalization has been augmented by a further series of reading marks consisting of dashes, circumflexes and other symbols, as follows: shadda (tashdid) is marked with a red circumflex or inverted circumflex; a similar symbol in blue seems to mark a fatha, but only on an initial waw or ya and not in every case; a miniature alif in red marks a long medial alif; a long red or blue horizontal dash marks wasl. The presence of this system of reading aids, which seem to be original, as they are applied with the same pigments as the coloured dot vocalization, indicates a functional context for this Qur’an. The most likely candidate would have been the Imam of a mosque or other prayer leader, or perhaps a Qur’an scholar or teacher in a madrasa. Another unusual feature in this bifolium is the silver and gold ink with which the surah heading and verse count are written; this is perhaps unique to this manuscript. In addition, in the centre of the marginal palmette is a motif like a pine cone, which has also been rendered in silver.

(8992001) 16 Illuminated Qur’an leaf in Kufic script Ifriqiyya, Egypt or Western Syria 10th century Surah 56 (Al-Waqi‘a/ the Inevitable), vv. 19-24

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 3 lines of Kufic script in brown ink to the page, original letter-pointing, vocalization in red, blue, green and yellow dots, single verse divisions, marked with triangular arrangements of gold dots, fifth verse divisions, marked with gold roundels outlined in blue and yellow containing the word khams in reserve, tenth verse divisions marked with large gold roundels of radiating foliate design outlined in blue and yellow, containing the exact verse count in reserve 23.8 x 33.1 cm The script on this Qur’an leaf is one of the most distinctive and elegant of all Kufic scripts. The wide spacing of the lines and the fact that there are only three lines per page means that the whole Qur’an must have run to many hundreds of folios, employing an enormous amount of parchment in the process. This, and the fine quality of the script and illumination, point to a commission of great luxury and expense. The script relates very closely to only two other known Qur’an manuscripts. There are several features of this leaf, both in terms of the calligraphy and of the illumination, worth examining in greater detail. There are two letter forms which the scribe has emphasized for calligraphic effect: 1) the strong verticals of the alif and lam, the lam/alif combination and the vertical parts of letters such as the ta, za and kaf; 2) the rounded sweeping curves of the terminal nun. These are the dominant features and are visually striking. To create such a strong visual emphasis must imply a specific aesthetic intention on the part of the scribe. The other letters appear almost diminutive in comparison, although finely formed. A further aspect of the calligraphic intentions of the scribe are apparent in the wide variations in the angle at which the nib of the qalam (pen) has been drawn over the surface, creating strong variations in the width of the strokes of certain letters and ligatures. For example, the starting point of the terminal nun has the nib held at an angle to produce the maximum width of stroke (perpendicular to the direction of the stroke). The nib is then angled gently towards the direction of the stroke so that by the half-way point of the letter the width of the stroke is much narrower. The angle of the nib is

then turned perpendicular again as it nears the end of the letter, so that the end of the stroke is again the maximum possible width. The terminal nun is thus effectively symmetrical about its mid-point. The scribe has exploited the natural effect of a chisel-shaped nib as it is drawn round a curve, and has accentuated this create a definite calligraphic motif. Another example of the use of the angled nib can be seen on the terminal mim, where the solid circle of the head of the mim moves to a thin, almost invisible downstroke for the tail. This feature in itself is notable, since most Kufic scripts have the tail of the terminal mim as a short, almost stubby feature, laid horizontally along the line of script. However, the terminal mim with a tail that drops below the line is a common feature of so-called Eastern Kufic scripts. The emphasis on the vertical letter forms is in contrast to the general thrust of the page. Although the horizontal stretching of the letters (mashq) is relatively measured in this case, the shape and proportions of the text area and the folio as a whole are strongly horizontal. The text area is 10 cm high and 22 cm wide, i.e. more than twice as wide as it is tall. In the context of the illumination, the roundels marking the tenth verses throughout the manuscript – in this case the twentieth verse of Surah 56 (al-Waqi’ah/the Inevitable) – are very large relative to the script and the size of the text area (the roundel on this folio measures 4.8 cm in diameter). They dwarf the majority of the surrounding letters, only the vertical letter-forms and terminal nun offering any visual competition. It seems that the scribe’s specific aesthetic intention was to create a script of contrasts: the verticals (lam, alif, ta, za, kaf) contrast both with the horizontality of the text area and, in a slightly different way, with the rounded curves of the terminal nun; the angling of the nib creates further graphic contrasts within the actual letter forms; and the visual contrast of the outsized solidly coloured gold tenth-verse marker with the attenuated dark brown letters and the creamy white of the parchment. The aesthetic success of this is evident, and the artistic effect is almost mannerist. As with most examples of Kufic script, we have no precise idea of the geographical origin of the folio, nor its date of production, but the presence of Eastern Kufic features in the script and provenance would indicate a date in the first half of the tenth century and a geographical origin between Kairouan and Damascus.

(10708) 17 Large Qur’an leaf in Western Kufic script Near East or North Africa 10th century AD Surah 20 (Ta Ha/Ta-ha), v. 62-73

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 7 lines of Western Kufic script in brown ink to the page, vocalisation in green and red dots, verse markers in form of pyramids of six gold circles, fifth verse markers are marked with a stylised letter ha (representing the number 5 in the abjad system) in gold, tenth verse markers in form of gold rosette containing eight-pointed star 33.4 x 47 cm This magnificent leaf is exceptional for its large size and the boldness of its script. With its combination of vertical emphasis in the letters alif and lam and depth of curve in the letter ye, it is a striking example of the so-called ‘Western Kufic’ script that was a forerunner of all maghribi and andalusi scripts. Several pertinent features of the script link it to two other manuscripts of similar format and style. The three manuscripts are: a) the present seven-line example, of which several folios and fragments are in the National Library, Tunis, and the Museum of Islamic Arts, Kairouan; b) a five-line Qur’an of which a fragment of fifty-three folios is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and a small number of single folios are dispersed; c) a three-line Qur’an of which many leaves are dispersed, including a single folio featured here (cat. 16). The pertinent aspects of the script which these three manuscripts share and which render them distinct from other examples include the oversized and emphatically rounded terminal nun, the thin, trailing tail of the terminal mim, and the strong, slender verticals of the relevant letters such as lam and alif. A further aspect of the calligraphic style of this type is the wide variation in the angle at which the nib has been drawn over the surface, creating strong variations in the width of the strokes of certain letters and ligatures, such as the terminal mim and nun. Déroche has linked the script cautiously to a waqf inscription from Damascus dated 298 AH/ 911 AD. (F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition: Qur’ans of the 8th to the 10th centuries, London, 1992). A fully formed, but slightly cursive version of Eastern Kufic script is used on a Qur’an copied at Palermo in 372 AH/

982-83 AD (see Déroche 1992, no. 81, p. 146), and individual elements are likely to have been borrowed earlier from non-Qur’anic manuscripts, for which Eastern Kufic script had been employed in titles and main texts since the ninth century. The fact that all of these distinctive calligraphic characteristics are shared by these three manuscripts, as well as a general similarity in the calligraphic style and the format of the folios (the text area of each type is approximately twice as wide as it is high) implies that these three manuscripts might be related in origin. It is possible that this was the ‘house style’ of a certain scriptorium at a certain time, or perhaps the favoured calligraphic style of a royal patron or dynasty – a court style. It may even be the distinctive style of an individual calligrapher. Fragments in which this script appears are to be found in Damascus, Cairo and Kairouan, but no pre-modern collections east of Damascus nor west of Kairouan possesses any examples. This, coupled with the calligraphically related Damascene waqf inscription of 911 AD and the fact that our script is still essentially a Kufic type but exhibits intermittent aspects characteristic of so-called Eastern Kufic might place the origin of all three manuscripts somewhere from Ifriqiyya to Syria in the first half of the tenth century. A leaf from the same manuscript in Kairouan, Tunisia, is illustrated in Martin Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, 1976, pl. 9, p. 29. A similar leaf with identical script, although smaller in size and with only three lines to the page, also bears verse markers in the form of six gold circles, and is in the collection of Nasser D Khalili (Dèroche, F. The Abbasid Tradition, 1992, cat. no. 58, p. 109.) A leaf from the same manuscript was previously published in M. Fraser, & W. Kwiatkowski, Ink and Gold: Islamic Calligraphy, cat. no. 13, p. 53 and frontispiece.

(11398) 18 Leaf from a unique Maghribi Qur’an in horizontal format Spain or North Africa c. AH 390/ 1000 AD - AH 440/ 1050 AD Surah 25 (al-Furqan/ the Standard), v. 73- Surah 26 (al-Shu’ara/ the Poets), v. 4

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 6 lines of brown Maghribi script to the page, surah heading in gold Kufic script with ornamental palmette projecting into the margin, trimmed 18.9 x 28.7 cm ‘And those who, when reminded of the Signs of their Lord….’ This leaf from a Maghribi Qur’an is a unique example of Maghribi script in horizontal format. The earliest known dated Maghribi Qur’an, completed in AH 483/ 1090 AD and now in Uppsala University Library (Inv.nr. O.Bj.48), was copied, like all other known Maghribi manuscripts, in vertical (or square) format. This leaf, however, is testament to a prior stage in which scribes experimented with Maghribi script in the traditional horizontal format of earlier Kufic Qur’ans. Such an experimental phase is already attested for Qur’ans written in so-called ‘Eastern Kufic’, or more appropriately ‘New Style’ Qur’ans. While these are generally associated with a vertical format, examples such as a Qur’an copied in Palermo in AH 372/ 982-3 AD demonstrate that they followed the format of earlier, horizontal Kufic Qur’ans. While it is impossible to precisely date the leaf, as changes in script, format and material probably occurred at different times and in different orders from place to place, the archaic characteristics suggest that the leaf belonged to the fluid years between the end of the tenth and the middle of the eleventh century.

(1764) 19 Section from a Qur’an Perhaps Egypt 11th century AD Copied by Abu ‘Umar Surah 4 (al-Nisa'/ the Women), vv. 72-95

Arabic manuscript on paper, 13 folios, misbound with lacunae, 7 lines of black New Style script to the page, vocalization in red, individual verses marked with gold dots outlined in red, tenth verses marked in margins with gold medallions pointed in green and red, fly leaves with Arabic and Turkish inscriptions, library seals on f. 13r, bound in later brown morocco binding with stamped central medallion 16.5 x 10.3 cm Though the script of this Qur’an section, which is signed by its scribe Abu ‘Umar, is clearly in a ‘New Style’, or ‘Eastern Kufic’, it is unusually thick and orthographically inconsistent. Together with the plain illumination, these suggest an early origin, perhaps from an outlying region. For a leaf extracted from the same manuscript, now housed in the Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, see F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London, 1992, no. 91, p. 174. The end papers contain calligraphic exercises in an Ottoman style, and medical notes including Galenic remedies for fevers and problems of the liver and pancreas. These probably reflect the ritual and healing role of the Qur’an in pre-modern Islamic societies. The recto side of the final folio bears the signature of the scribe, Abu ‘Umar, as well as three separate seals.

(6782) 20 Qur’an in Eastern Kufic script Persia or Mesopotamia 11th century AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 202 folios, 25 lines of black ‘New Style’ script in black ink to the page script, vocalisation marks in red dots, other diacritics in green, single verse marked with gold dots outlined in red larger marginal medallions indicative of fifth and tenth verses have been trimmed, surah headings in white Kufic script overlaid with gold set in narrow panels, full-page illumination on f. 1r with central medallion with a white knotwork circumference set within a rectangular panel, outlined in blue rubbed, similar illumination on f. 202v, later, probably 15th-century brown leather binding with a simple circular motif in the centre front and back, repaired on the spine, green silk doublures 13.9 x 9.8 cm This is an extremely rare example of a complete Qur’an in ‘New Style’ or ‘Eastern Kufic’ script. Very few Qur’ans of this age have survived in anything but fragmentary form. The miniature ‘New Style’ script of this Qur’an is a feat of precision, being both compact and regular. Qur’ans in ‘New Style’ scripts were increasingly popular from at least the tenth century onwards, probably on account of their greater legibility vis a vis Qur’ans in the traditional ‘Kufic’ scripts of earlier centuries. The move towards ‘New Style’ scripts was accompanied by the growing preference for paper as a material and the vertical format. These developments were probably connected to the influence of an increasingly sophisticated bureaucracy in the Islamic heartlands. The Qur’an opens and finishes with pages of full page illumination, consisting of large panels with a circular ornamental device in the centre. The panels are filled with knotted borders and rich vine-leaf scrolls that are typical of Persian and Mesopotamian naskh as well as ‘New Style’ Qur’ans of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The text of the opening bifolium and the closing folio is enclosed within illuminated borders of the same decorative devices. This type of illumination is found on eleventh-century naskh as well as Eastern Kufic Qur’ans of the same period. For comparable illumination of the period, including the same gold verse markers outlined in red, see a Qur’an dated 1036 in the British Library (illustrated in Colin Baker, Qur’an Manuscripts, Calligraphy, Illumination, Design, London, 2007, no. 12, p. 27).

(10058001) 21 Leaf from an illuminated Qur’an written in gold Perhaps Syria 12th century Surah 85 (al-Buruj/ the Constellations), v. 5 - Surah 88 (al-Ghashiyyah/ the Overwhelming), v. 14

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on paper, 19 lines of gold thulth script outlined in black to the page, vocalisation in red and blue, single verse divisions marked with small gold rosettes occasionally outlined in red ink, tenth verse divisions marked with large gold marginal medallions, surah headings in gold Kufic script on a red background set in a rectangular cartouche with a lozenge-shaped ornament extending into the margins, the first basmalah of each surah is outlined in red ink This leaf is unusual as it comes from a Qur’an written entirely in gold, but also because the crowded arrangement of the text resembles more the calligraphy used to decorate buildings rather than manuscripts. A leaf from the same manuscript is housed in the Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D Khalili Collection. TDIC, Abu Dhabi, 2007, cat. no. 62; D. James, The Master Scribes. Qur’ans of the 10th to 14th century AD. Nour Foundation, London, 1992, cat. no. 3)

(7781) 22 Qur’an in Eastern Kufic script Iran 12th century

Arabic manuscript on paper, 242 folios, missing Surah 1 (al-Fatiha/the Opening), and Surah 2 (al-Baqara/the Cow) vv. 1-6 and Surah 47 (Muhammad) v. 13 until end of Qur’an; 19 lines of black ‘New Style’ script to the page, vocalization and diacritics in black and red, cluster of four dots between verses, fifth verses marked with yellow pear-shaped devices pointed in green and red, tenth verse marked with medallions filled with yellow trefoils, rosettes and other designs, surah headings in yellow ornamental Kufic script, folios 149v-154r with gold replacing the yellow in the illumination, inner borders of folios 151v-152r decorated with a repeating knotted rope motif in colours and gold, illuminated panel indicating midpoint of the Qur’an, modern blue velvet covers 24.6 x 16.5 cm This is a large and near complete Qur’an in ‘New Style’ or ‘Eastern Kufic’ script. This Qur’an belongs to a small group of Qur’ans written on parchment or paper in Eastern Kufic which have survived from the twelfth century. Most of them appear to be incomplete at beginning and end. By the end of the tenth century, Qur’ans were being copied in a script that was much more legible than the highly stylized Kufic scripts of the early Abbasid period (c. 750-950 AD). By the twelfth century, when this Qur’an was copied, paper had replaced parchment in the Islamic East and Near East as the typical material for the text, and a vertical format had almost entirely replaced the traditional horizontal format of Abbasid Qur’ans. Qur’ans in ‘New Style’ script were copied in localities as far apart as Sicily and Eastern Persia. This style of Qur’an, however, with small ‘New Style’ script and distinctive illuminated features, belongs to a group believed to have been copied in Iran in the late-twelfth and early-thirteenth century. For a single leaf in the same style in the Chester Beatty Library, see David James, Qur’ans and Bindings in the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1980, no. 17, p. 31. The distinguishing feature of this Qur’an is its large size compared to the others. The script, diacritical and vocalization dots and verse markers of this Qur’an compare closely to a later copy in the Mashhad Library copied by ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad and dated AH 620/ 1223 AD. The Qur’an is attributed to Persia; see M. Lings, The Qur’anic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, World of Islam Festival, London, 1976, no. 21, XIV, pp. 27-47.

The closest comparison especially of the marginal medallions and colours used is a twelfth-century single-volume Qur’an in the Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, see F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London, 1992, no. 96, pp. 180-181.

(6465) 23 Illuminated Qur’an in naskh script Eastern Iran Circa 1200 AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 337 folios, 11 lines of black naskh script to the page, intermittent recitation marks in red, accompanied by a Persian interlinear translation in small black naskh, individual verses marked by a gold rosette, pointed in red and green, fifth verse divisions are marked within the text by a gold teardrop motif, pointed in red and green, and in the margin by a large upright ‘palmette-trees’, illuminated with gold and red, a green dot in the middle, and outlined in blue, tenth verse divisions marked in the margin by a large medallion, gold and polychrome, flecked and pointed around its circumference, and containing an inscription in gold Kufic relating to the number of verses passed, fifth and tenth verses also marked in the margins with red letters, kha and ‘ayn respectively; juz’ and sub‘ divisions are marked in large silver Kufic in the margins, with other marginal annotations in red and silver throughout, surah headings in gold Kufic, incomplete at beginning and end, with traces of fire damage, some restoration, modern green leather binding, filleted and with four gold corner motifs on the central field 39.5 x 40 cm This imposing Qur’an, remarkable for being almost complete and for the unusual style of its illuminated central bifolium, belongs to a small group of manuscripts copied in Eastern Iran in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Like the other manuscripts in this group, it marks a point of transition between the Qur’ans copied in Eastern Kufic in the eleventh and twelfth century and those in the khutut alyabisah or ‘dry’ scripts, i.e. naskh, muhaqqaq and rayhani, which by the end of the thirteenth century dominated Qur’an production in the eastern Islamic lands. The angular naskh script, dark buff paper, marginal and intertextual devices and dimensions all bear close comparison to those of a Qur’an copied in 1270 AD and attributed by David James to Eastern Iran or North India, now in the Khalili Collection (inv. no. QUR628). In this manuscript James notes the angular, archaic form of the letter kaf, which harks back to Eastern Kufic script. The same feature is found in the present manuscript, along with other features of Eastern Kufic Qur’ans, such as the surah headings, which consist only of the title in gold Eastern Kufic script, and are unmarked by any device in the margin. The distinctive ‘palmette-trees’ found both in this manuscript and the 1270 Qur’an, as well as the more usual medallions with projecting finials marking every tenth verse and the teardrop-shaped fifth verse markers, are also features found in Eastern Kufic Qur’ans from eastern Iran. The presence of these features in the present

manuscript confirms David James’s observation that the move from Eastern Kufic to naskh Qur’ans was a gradual transition (James, D. The Master Scribes: Qur’ans of the 10th to the 14th centuries AD, London 1992, cat. no. 18, pp. 82-85). Very few Qur’ans comparable to this imposing manuscript have survived in anything more than fragments. One, in the Nasser D Khalili collection, attributed to late eleventh or early twelfth century Iran or Iraq and published in James, The Master Scribes, Oxford, 1992, p. 28-9, bears a close resemblance to this copy in its decorative elements, particularly its marginal ‘lozenges with palmettes’. The richly illuminated bifolium that marks the mid-point of the text gives us a fascinating and rare glimpse of the very beginning of the Ilkhanid style. It is strikingly different from contemporary surviving examples. Though the overall symmetrical design, consisting of illuminated panels above and below the framed text block, is not unusual in Qur’ans of this period, the loose knotwork forming geometric patterns that fills the text frame and the square corner pieces in the bottom panels is quite distinctive. Another feature that sets the illumination apart is the repetition of the word ‘Allah’ in small white Eastern Kufic to fill the borders of the cartouches of the upper panels as well as the inner rings of the medallions projecting into the margins. The interlinear Persian translation, the imposing size, as well as the marginal commentary on Qur’anic recitation (qira’a), suggest that the Qur’an may have been for institutional rather than personal use.

(11397) 24 Bifolium from a Qur’an in Maghribi script North Africa or Spain About 1250 AD - 1350 AD Surah 56 (al-Waq‘ia/ the Inevitable), vv. 61-66, 95-96; Surah 57 (al-Hadid/ Iron), vv. 1-2

Bifolium from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 5 lines of large brown Maghribi script to the page, vocalization in blue, green and red, single verse divisions marked with gold trefoil devices pointed in blue and red, tenth verses marked in margin with gold teardrop containing roundel with the word ‘ashar in white Kufic script on a blue ground, surah heading of Surah 57 (al-Hadid/ Iron) is marked with surah title and number of verses in surah in dense gold Kufic script highlighted in red with illuminated palmette extending into the margin 41.6 x 22 cm Multi-volume Qur’ans in nearly square format in few lines of outsize brown Maghribi script were popular in Spain and North Africa in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, though it is possible that such copies were being produced as early as the second half of the twelfth century. Both this large ‘Maghribi’ script and its smaller counterpart, often referred to as ‘Andalusi’, appear to have taken shape in the second half of the eleventh century, perhaps in connection with the rise of the Berber Almoravid dynasty which founded Marrakesh in 1062 and assumed control of Spain in 1090. The geographical distinction implied by these names is probably misleading, however, as the confluence of artistic traditions in Spain and North Africa reflected the political and cultural integration of the whole area. Most Qur’an leaves and manuscripts of comparable dimensions and script have been dated to c. 1250-1350 AD. Of the same size and format as the present bifolium is a thirty-volume Qur’an apparently written by the Marinid Sultan Abu‘l-Hasan ‘Abdallah b. ‘Ali and endowed to the al-Aqsa Mosque in 1344, located in the Al-Haram al-Sharif Islamic Museum (inv. no. 3). Sultan Abu‘l-Hasan’s Qur’an also shares many decorative elements with this bifolium, including the red highlighting around the surah heading in compact Kufic script and the trefoil verse markers pointed in red and blue. Though the script in the Sultan Abu‘l-Hasan manuscript is a much darker brown, the thick hand is similar and shares the exaggeratedly extended tooth of the initial ba of the basmalah.

(11404) 25 Illuminated Qur’an leaf in Maghribi script North Africa or Spain About AH 650/ 1250 AD - AH 750/ 1350 AD Surah 7 (al-‘Araf/ the Heights), vv. 205-06; Surah 8 (al-Anfal/ the Spoils of War), v. 1

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 7 lines of brown Maghribi script to the page, vocalization in red, green and yellow, individual verses marked with gold trefoil device, fifth verses marked with a gold ha, surah heading consists of title and verse count in small gold ornamental Kufic on a blue ground within polygonal cartouches set in a panel of strapwork outlined in gold and gold vegetal scroll, with a gold palmette extending into the margin. 19.7 x 19.7 cm ‘And remember your Lord within yourself, in humility and awe…’ Qur’ans made of parchment in square format were the standard in North Africa and Spain from the middle of the twelfth century to the end of the medieval period. The standardization of Qur’an production in this period may well have been related to the preoccupation of the Berber Almohad dynasty (1145-1232 AD) with regularizing worship and proclaiming the unity of God. Qur’ans copied in this period continued to vary in size and the number of lines to the page, however. The thin, large Maghribi script and seven-line format of this Qur’an leaf can be compared with a bifolium of similar dimensions in the Khalili Collection (inv. no. QUR521), and two volumes from a monumental Qur’an in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul (inv. no. T. 360). Unusually for Qur’ans of this format, the surah heading on the present leaf consists of the title in small gold ornamental Kufic contained in an elaborately illuminated panel of strapwork and geometric cartouches. The pattern of alternating stars and geometric cartouches found in the surah heading can also be seen in fourteenth-century woodcarving and stonework, such as for example a wooden panel (inv. no. RE. 4007) and a marble tombstone (RE. 238), both located in the Museo de la Alhambra, Granada. More typical of manuscripts of this format were headings of large gold ornamental Kufic with no form of surround, and both the Khalili and Istanbul manuscripts.

(12508) 26 Qur’an leaf in Maghribi script on peach paper Spain, probably Granada or Valencia 13th century Surah 83 (al-Mutaffifin/ the Cheats), vv. 31-36

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on peach-coloured paper, 5 lines of large brown Maghribi script to the page, vocalization in gold, outlined in black and in green, single verse divisions marked with gold roundels containing the exact verse count according to the abjad system, endowment inscription reading hubus marked with pin pricks in top right margin 33.2 x 26 cm The Qur’an from which this leaf originates is one of the most celebrated western Islamic manuscripts and was probably produced for a royal or noble patron in either Granada or Valencia. A partially complete volume from the same manuscript is in the Bibliothèque Ben Youssouf, Marrakesh (inv. no. 431). Only a small number of Qur’ans copied on paper survive from the western Islamic lands, where vellum copies in square format were the standard for most of the medieval period. On the rare occasions that paper was used, it was normally coloured, and seems to have been reserved for luxury copies. One such example, possibly a Tunisian Qur’an copied in silver ink on chocolate paper, is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, (inv. no. or. arabe 392). The distinctive pink paper used for this Qur’an is generally thought to have been produced in Jativa (Arabic Shatiba), though it is possible that similar paper was also manufactured elsewhere. Jativa was home to the earliest recorded paper mill in Spain and was frequently praised by medieval writers for the quality of its smooth paper, which was exported all over the Mediterranean. It was from paper mills in Islamic Spain that papermaking was introduced to the Latin West. Though the paper for this Qur’an may have been made in Jativa before James I of Aragon’s conquest of the town in 1244, it could have been imported to the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada from mills in Christian hands. Islamic paper was probably being imported to Christian Spain as early as the twelfth century, and with the Christian conquest of al-Andalus already existing paper-mills were maintained as well as new ones established. In addition to their coloured paper, leaves from this Qur’an are distinguished by the monumental, evenly spaced Maghribi script in brown ink and the richly detailed illumination.

(11576) 27 Qur’an leaf in gold Maghribi script Marinid Morocco or Nasrid Kingdom of Granada Circa AH 700/ 1300 AD Surah 10 (Yunus/Jonah), vv. 59-63

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on parchment, 9 lines of gold Maghribi script to the page, tashdid and sukun marked in blue, hamzat al-wasl marked with a green dot and hamzat al-qat’ with a yellow dot, verse divisions marked with an illuminated roundel within the text area containing the word aya reserved in Kufic script on a blue ground 19.5 x 17 cm This impressive folio comes from a manuscript of the Qur’an written throughout in gold Maghribi script, one of only two Qur’ans in Maghribi script in which the entire text is written in original gold. The other is a manuscript in the John Rylands Library, Manchester University (ms. 18). The script of the present folio is of a large, looping type, with letter pointing also in gold, and the manuscript must have originally been bound in several volumes. This would perhaps indicate an original function in a mosque or royal library. It has been suggested by David James that this Qur’an was made for a king of Granada or Morocco, which is certainly a plausible origin for what must have been a gloriously grand manuscript when complete (D. James, The Master Scribes: Qur’ans of the 10th to the 14th centuries, London, 1992, p. 214). Other sections and leaves from the same manuscript are in the following collections: (sections) Topkapi Saray Library, Istanbul, EH219; Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ms.1424; Eton College Library, Windsor; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, S.L. 217; the Keir Collection, London; (single folios) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Ms.37.21; Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection, Geneva; National Library, Cairo; Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait, QUR.0127.TSR; Khalili Collection, London, QUR 520.

(10154) 28 Section from a Qur’an in muhaqqaq script with contemporary marginal commentary Illumination attributable to Muhammad b. Mubadir Mamluk Cairo Circa AH 698/ 1298 AD - AH 710/ 1310 AD Surah 78 (al-Naba/the Tidings) v. 1- Surah 114 (al-Nas/the People) v. 6

30 folios from an Arabic manuscript on finely burnished cream paper, 7 lines of bold muhhaqaq script in brown ink per page, basmalahs written in gold throughout, verse divisions marked within text area with illuminated roundels, fifth verse divisions marked with cone-shaped illuminated devices in gold and red in margin, tenth verse divisions marked with large illuminated roundels in gold and red in margin, surah headings written in blue thulth script on elaborately illuminated rectangular panels with stylized palmettes extending into margins, further illuminated devices in margins marking juz’ and hizb divisions and sajda loci, extensive marginal commentary consisting of tafsir, qira’at and i‘rab written in naskh script in red, brown and blue ink arranged horizontally, diagonally and vertically with visible impressed guide rules, ff. 28v and 29r with additional marginal illuminated panels surrounding text of Surah 114 (al-Nas/the People) and closing prayer, f. 29r with illuminated border bands and a large square illuminated panel beneath the closing prayer, ff. 29r and 30v with textual description of marginal commentary surrounded by an illuminated band with roundels extending into the margin, f.30b with a full-page illuminated panel with a roundel and cusped arms extending into the outer margin, modern green morocco binding in Mamluk style 47 x 33 cm This is the final volume (Juz’ 30) of an exceptional Mamluk Qur’an of the highest rank. Once partially dispersed, it has now been reassembled and is complete. Being the final section of the Qur’an, it contains the shortest surahs and therefore the highest number of decorated headings of any section. These, in addition to the fully illuminated finispieces, demonstrate just how rich and artistically luxurious the manuscript as a whole must have been. Furthermore they afford us a considerable amount of stylistic evidence for the origin and date of production of this Qur’an. Careful analysis reveals the Qur’an to be a masterpiece of geometric planning and execution and a highly important work of early Mamluk art. The overall quality and invention of the illumination points to the work of a master artist, and several factors point more specifically to the work of Muhammad b. Mubadir, one of the leading illuminators in Mamluk Cairo at the turn of the thirteenth to the fourteenth century.

An unusual and significant feature is the presence of an extensive contemporary commentary in the margins, which was undoubtedly included as part of the original scheme. It presents three different types of Qur’anic exegesis, relating to the meaning, reading and grammar of the Qur’an, and its presence was considered important enough within the general design of the manuscript to have been laid out with the same careful geometric and proportional principles underlying the whole production. The result is simultaneously complex and simple, powerful and refined, and deserves to be ranked alongside the greatest examples of early Mamluk manuscript production. The presence of this commentary raises the question of the intended function of this copy of the Qur’an. On the whole copies of the Qur’an with commentaries written in them were used for teaching and were not particularly glamorous or expensive productions. Grand copies of the Qur’an such as this one, on the other hand, were very rarely provided with commentaries at the time of their production, although some had commentaries added in later decades or centuries. Here the commentary clearly preceded the illumination. Could the Qur’an have been commissioned by a powerful scholar for his own use, or perhaps for a renowned scholar by his wealthy patron, or even by a prince or sultan for a madrasah or other teaching establishment? The manuscript displays significant and unusual qualities in every aspect of its design and illumination. Each of the three main parts of the design is meticulously planned with a sense of proportion and spatial harmony; the main text area is in strict proportion to the overall dimensions of the page; the marginal commentary is arranged in spatial relation to the main text area and to the overall dimensions of the page as well as according to its own internal geometric system; and the illumination is a tour de force, striking the eye with its interplay of geometry and vegetal motifs, balance of abstract and organic features, and sheer quality and richness of execution.

The various indications of the most likely date and place of origin for the Qur’an can be summed up as follows: a) the use in the illumination of a particular type of shaded globule that appears in other dated manuscripts would give us relatively wide parameters of c. 1304-46 in either Cairo or Damascus; b) the use of muhaqqaq script for the main body of the text was certainly established by 1320 in Cairo and is likely to have been in use before that date; c) the particular style of naskh script used for the commentary provides parameters of c. 1300-25, since it compares closely to a Cairo manuscript of 1306-15; and d) the style of illumination and its

relation to the work of Muhammad b. Mubadir would point to Cairo around the years 1298-1310. Among the distinctive stylistic traits in the illumination consonant with Muhammad b. Mubadir’s known work there is one particular feature which appears to be unique to his oeuvre and to the first decade of the fourteenth century, and that is the extension of the illuminated borders around all four sides of an illuminated page. David James suggests that Muhammad b. Mubadir’s main patron was Rukn al-Din Baybars (see James 1998, pp. 40-47, 104). Could the present manuscript, as the work of Muhammad b. Mubadir, have been made for the same patron? Unless another fragment of the manuscript containing a colophon or further information is discovered, we will probably never know the exact provenance of the manuscript. On the basis of analysis alone, however, it is more than probable that the inventive and technically brilliant illumination was the work of Muhammad b. Mubadir and was completed in Cairo around 1298-1310 AD, and very possible that the manuscript was produced under the patronage of Baybars, either as Vizier or as Sultan. The above is an abridged version of a separate monograph devoted to the present manuscript section: see M. Fraser, Geometry in Gold: an Illuminated Mamluk Qur’an Section, London, 2005.

(11829004) 29 Leaf from a Mamluk Qur’an Illumination attributed to Sandal Circa AH 700/ 1300 AD - AH 710/ 1310 AD Surah 102 (al-Takathur/ Competition) v. 1 - Surah 194 (al-Humaza/ the Gossipmonger), v. 2

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on paper, 6 lines of black naskh script to the page, interlinear gold rosettes pointed in blue and red, fifth verses marked with gold teardrop medallions, tenth verses marked with illuminated roundels containing word ‘ashar in gold ornamental Kufic, surah heading in gold Eastern Kufic, heavily trimmed, some damage to outer edges 19.4 x 14.2 cm This Qur’an leaf comes from a small group of Qur’ans, including the Baybars al-Jashnagir Qur’an in the British Library, that can be attributed to the atelier of one of the master illuminators of Mamluk Cairo, Abu Bakr, known as ‘Sandal’. Whereas the main text of Qur’ans was copied according to strict rules, there was great variation in the way in which the ornamental headings might be written. The surah heading in ornamental Kufic is almost identical to those in a Qur’an illuminated by Sandal in the Chester Beatty library (see David James, Qur’ans of the Mamluks, London, 1988, cat. no. 3).

(10312) 30 Monumental Qur’an leaf in muhaqqaq script Mamluk Egypt 14th century AD Surah 18 (al-Kahf/ the Cave), vv. 26-42

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on paper, 11 lines of bold black muhaqqaq script to the page, gold rosette verse markers with blue and copper accents, recto with marginal ovoid lozenge in gold and blue with white naskh and blue tracery, annotations in red and blue, minor marginal damage, worm holes skilfully repaired, some creasing 71.5 x 52 cm This folio, from an exceptionally large Qur’an written in a powerful muhaqqaq script, was once part of a massive manuscript, probably in a single volume, commissioned for a Cairene madrasah or mosque from the time of the height of Mamluk magnificence. A number of such Qur’ans were produced in the fourteenth century for the multitude of religious institutions of Mamluk Cairo (see the catalogue section in D. James, Qur’ans of the Mamluks, London, 1988, pp. 220-250), but the present example is among the largest known. The script, verse markers and format of this page are similar to those of another fourteenth century Mamluk Qur’an, illustrated in Lings and Safadi, The Qur’an, London, 1976, nos. 85 and 88, pp. 58-60.

(7340) 31 Section from a Mamluk Qur’an Endowed to the mausoleum of Sultan Faraj ibn Barquq Cairo, Mamluk Egypt Circa AH 750/ 1350 AD Surah 21 (al-Anbiya/ the Prophets) - Surah 22 (al-Hajj/ Pilgrimage)

Arabic manuscript on paper, 43 folios, 5 lines of black naskh script to the page, surah headings in gold thulth, individual verses marked with gold rosettes pointed in blue, textual divisions marked in margins with gold and blue ovals (nisf, rub’) and medallions (hizb, sajda), illuminated title page inscribed with juz’ number in silver thulth within gold and blue cartouche and lobed octagon, ff. 1v, 2r, 43v ruled in blue and gold, contemporary tooled leather binding with polygons evolving from central decagonal star, and patterned doublures 20.8 x 15.5 cm

On highly burnished paper and written in clear naskh script, this volume is an elegant and early example of Mamluk multi-volume Qur’an production. Whereas the majority of surviving sections from multi-volume Qur’ans date from the fifteenth century, several features in this manuscript point to a date in the fourteenth century. The covers of the binding are entirely filled with an elaborate tooled pattern of polygons evolving from a central decagonal star. This design, which was popular on covers in the mid-fourteenth century (see David James, The Master Scribes, London, 1992, no. 44, p. 181) gave way in the late fourteenth and fifteenth century to a plainer style characterised by a simple central polygon or medallion. The exuberant row of polychrome lotus leaves crowning the illuminated panel on the title page also belong to an ornamental style that fell out of fashion in the more sober production of the fifteenth century.

The title page bears an endowment inscription showing that the manuscript was at a later point endowed to the famous mausoleum built by Sultan Faraj ibn Barquq for his father, Sultan Barquq. The inscriptions records that it was installed in the ‘Barquqiyya’ complex in ‘the desert’. Sultan Barquq was the first of a new line of Mamluk rulers of Egypt, called ‘Burji’ with reference to Barquq’s regiment in the dungeon, or burj, of the Cairo citadel. Signalling a change from the prior Mamluk regime’s practice of being buried in mausoleums in the centre of Mamluk Cairo,

Barquq expressed his desire to be buried in the desert area next to the tombs of Sufi sheikhs in the Northern Cemetery. His funerary complex was completed by his son, Sultan Faraj ibn Barquq between 1398 -1411 AD.

(11657003) 32 Leaf from the ‘5 Surahs’ Qur’anic Album Probably Jala’irid Baghdad c. 1370 AD Copied by Abu Muhammad ‘Abd al-Qayyum ibn Muhammad ibn Karamshah-i Tabrizi Surah 34 (Saba’/ Sheba) vv. 14-16

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on paper, 5 lines of muhaqqaq script in black ink outlined in gold to the page, remargined, text block ruled in gold, blue and red, individual verses marked with illuminated roundels with dotted borders, original marginal medallion of scrolling black and gold palmettes on blue ground reapplied as normal 43.4 x 34.6 cm The superbly measured and flowing muhaqqaq script of this leaf suggests an imperial origin. The precision and firmness of hand is remarkable in a script of this size, as is the consistency of the gold outline to the letters. Aboulala Soudavar has suggested on stylistic grounds that the compilation of Qur’anic verses from which this leaf came was made in Baghdad for the Jala’irid ruler Shaykh Uways (see Aboulala Soudavar, Art of the Persian Courts: Selections from the Art and History Trust Collection, New York, 1992, no. 19, pp. 50-51). While the extremely fine illumination looks back to Ilkhanid imperial Qur’ans, such as Uljaytu’s Mosul Qur’an, the fluid muhaqqaq script looks forward to the monumental Qur’an thought to have been made for Timur or Baysunghur. The colophon of the manuscript, now in a private collection, gives the name of the scribe as ‘Abu Muhammad ‘Abd al-Qayyum ibn Muhammad ibn Karamshah-i Tabrizi’. In addition to the leaf in the Art and History Trust Collection, a further leaf from this album is in the David Collection (Kjeld von Folsach, Art from the World of Islam in the David Collection, Copenhagen, 1990, no. 8, p. 59), and two others were exhibited in the exhibition ‘Islamic Calligraphy, Sacred and Secular Writings’ (see David James, Islamic Calligraphy, Geneva, 1988, nos. 23a-b, pp. 100-102).

(1612) 33 Qasidat al-Shatibiya (Poetic arrangement of certain chapters of the Qur’an) Also known as the Hirz al-amani fi wadjh al-tahani By Abu ‘l-Qasim Ibn Firroh al-Ru’aini al-Shatibi Egypt or Syria AH 780/ 1378 AD Scribe: “the slave Musafir”

Arabic manuscript on paper, 110 folios, 14 lines of fine naskh script to the page, with headings in gold, further headings and significant words picked out in red throughout, some pages with marginal notations in black, two finely illuminated headpieces in colours and gold with the basmallah written in fine ornamental Kufic in white, few repairs, later red morocco binding, slightly worn, rebacked, with flap 17 x 12 cm An elegantly written manuscript on dense polished paper with a fine illuminated headpiece, in blue, green and gold, in Mamluk style. Al-Shatibi (born 1144 AD in Játiva, Andalusia; died 1194 AD in Cairo) was responsible for the introduction of didactic techniques for the memorisation of the Qur’an and was instrumental in the transfer of authority in religious disciplines from Andalusia to the eastern Islamic world. The present work is a poetic arrangement based on certain chapters of the Qur’an; from the author’s time until our own it has constituted the framework for the teaching of Qur’an recitation, which stresses memorisation and recitation. ‘Since the Qur’an constitutes itself as text only through recitation, i.e. through being performed as a "speech act" addressed to listeners, the modalities of its performance, i.e. orthoepy and intonation, cannot be conveyed except through oral practice. It is, moreover, the personal presence of the instructor in this art that is considered indispensable, since he (occupying the final position within a chain of transmitters which goes back to the Prophet himself) guarantees the integrity of the tradition's flow from the initial and immediate situation of speech unto the contemporary listeners.’ (Encyclopaedia of Islam, IX, 364-5). The use of verse aids the recollection and the pronunciation of the text.

Al-Shatibi settled in Cairo after making the hajj to Mecca, and was appointed the head of language, grammar, and recitation at the famous Fadiliyya Madrasa. Born blind, his piety and authority as well as his remarkable achievements made him one of the most charismatic figures of the day. His reputation lead to an introduction to Saladin in 1193, following the latter’s reconquest of Palestine. Copied in elegant naskh script on thick polished paper, the manuscript opens with a superb example of illumination in the late fourteenth century Mamluk/Timurid style. The same illuminated headpiece, containing the basmalah in white ornamental Kufic within a panel of gold scroll work on a blue ground, is repeated at the midpoint of the manuscript.

(11370) 34 Section from a Mamluk Qur’an endowed by Sultan al-Zahir Barquq Mamluk Egypt Circa 1380 AD Surah 27 (al-Naml/ Ants), v. 57- Surah 29 (al-Ankabut/ Spiders), v. 45

Arabic manuscript on paper, 18 folios, 9 lines of black naskh script to the page, recitation marks in red letters, individual verses marked in text with gold rosettes pointed in red and blue, fifth verses marked in margins with roundel containing word khams in gold Kufic, tenth verse marked with roundels containing word ‘ashar in gold Kufic script, outlined in blue with long projecting finials, surah headings in white thulth script within illuminated panels, title page with illuminated panel containing juz’ number (20) written in white thulth script, waqf inscription on f. 1r, original brown leather stamped and tooled binding decorated with gold dots, doublures with block-pressed arabesque pattern 32 x 21.7 cm This section bears a royal waqf inscription belonging to the Mamluk Sultan al-Zahir Barquq (reigned twice 1382-90 and 1390-99). According to the inscription, the Sultan endowed it to the tomb of Layth b. Sa’d for the sake of ‘the poor and the destitute, and that they might pray for him and his parents’. Imam Layth b. Sa’d (d. 791 AD) was one of the leading Islamic scholars and traditionists of the early Islamic period. The binding on this Mamluk Qur’an section is a beautiful example of a type made in Egypt, Syria and North Africa in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A central panel contains a lobed medallion containing a circle of sectagons with a six-pointed star at the centre. The corners are filled with triangles from which project round decorative devices coming to a point in a cluster of gold dots. The whole of the central panel, as well as the inner border, have also been studded with gold dots, most of which remain intact. For related bindings, see Duncan Haldane, Islamic Bookbindings, London, 1983, esp. nos. 34, 56, 65.

(9426) 35 Section from a Qur’an Fez, Morocco Dated AH 788/ 1386-7 AD Surah 36 (Ya Sin/ Ya-Sin), v. 23- Surah 114 (al-Nas/ the People), with parts missing

Arabic manuscript on paper, 61 folios, 17 lines of sepia Maghribi to the page, roundels between verses, opening folio heading and surah headings in terracotta Kufic, marginal medallions, fifth verses marked irregularly with illuminated letter ‘ha’ or illuminated roundel in similar colour, final folio with illuminated colophon, with roundel containing inscription in gold thulth within a square gold frame and burgundy corner motif of palmettes, set within a burgundy border, lacunae between surah 37 (al-Saffat/Drawn up in Ranks), v. 88 and surah 38 (Sad/the Letter Sad), v. 59, and between surah 96 (al-‘Alaq/The Clot), v. 13 and surah 109 (al-Karfirun/the Unbelievers), v.4, later brown morocco binding with flap 24.4 x 18.5cm Qur’ans that can be firmly dated and located from the fourteenth century are rare and of great documental importance. Written in a sinuous Maghribi script, this Qur’an displays certain highly unusual features of which there appear to be few examples in museums or private collections. Although the motifs used in its illumination - roundels, marginal palmettes and circular verse markers, as well as the use of ornamental Kufic script for the surah headings - are familiar to many other Maghribi Qur’ans, the bright choice of colours in this manuscript sets it apart. An orange-terracotta is used in the surah headings with their marginal palmettes, and they are written in a particularly eccentric and partially floriated version of ornamental Kufic. In the roundels and verse markers there is also the sparing use of a dark burgundy red and green. The colophon on the final folio of this North African Qur’an section, with its striking gold and burgundy design, gives the date of AH 788 (1386-87 AD) and Fez as the time and place of completion.

(4469001) 36 Section from a Qur’an endowed by Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri Cairo, Mamluk Egypt Late 15th century Surah 46 (al-Ahqaf/the Dunes), v. 1 - Surah 51 (al-Dhariyat/ the Winnowing Winds), v. 29

Arabic manuscript on paper, 33 folios, 7 lines of black naskh script to the page, individual verses marked with gold rosettes pointed in red and blue, larger division (hizb, rub’ hizb, nisf hizb) noted in the margin in gold thulth with red interstices, surah headings in large gold thulth with interstices filled with red and black, margins ruled in red, title-page with juz’ number in silver thulth outlined in gold set within an illuminated panel and medallion on a gold, blue and copper ground, waqf (endowment) inscription on title-page, later Ottoman ownership seals, contemporary binding 16.5 x 11 cm This Qur’an section is a highly polished example of a multi-volume Qur’an set from the very end of the Mamluk period. An inscription on the opening folio reads that the set was endowed by the penultimate Mamluk sultan, Qansuh al-Ghawri to the madrasah in his mosque complex on 25

Muharram AH 909/ 20 July 1503 AD. The emphasis on clarity and regularity in the script and illumination both suggest that the manuscript was copied in the late fifteenth century, shortly before its endowment. The naskh script is compact and neat, while the illumination, dominated by deep-hued gold, red and blue, is bold and uncluttered.

(3847014) 37 Section from a Timurid Qur’an Iran Mid-15th century Surah 29 (al-Ankabut/ Spiders), v. 45- Surah 33 (al-Ahzab/ the Clans), v. 30

Arabic manuscript on paper, 27 folios, 7 lines of black naskh script to the page, individual verses marked with gold rosettes pointed in blue and red, margins ruled in gold, remargined with later cream paper with further Qur’anic verses in naskh hand, blue and red, surah heading in gold thulth in cloud cartouche within panel of red cross-hatching, opening illuminated headpiece with juz’ number in gold thluth within illuminated panel of gold floral spray on blue ground, marginal, later brown leather binding preserving original 15th-century cover with central star medallion containing octagonal star and gold inlay 27.2 x 19.3 cm The elaborated illuminated heading in this volume from a Qur’an set belongs to the highly refined tradition of fifteenth-century Western Iranian Qur’an illumination. Typically for such manuscripts, the juz’, or volume, is in gold thulth script within a cusped cartouche on a ground of gold spiralling ornamental scroll. The cartouche is set within a blue panel, filled with delicate gold floral spray. The cusped ends of the cartouche are echoed by two heart-shaped devices projecting inwards from the sides of the panel. The panel is crowned by a row of interlace gold and polychrome palmettes, from the top of which project delicate blue finials. Additional verses of the Qur’an have been added at a later date. This style of illumination was widespread over western and central Iran and Anatolia in the period, making it hard to locate an exact origin. The slightly dark paper and, at times, horizontally stretched naskh script would indicate an Iranian rather than Ottoman origin. For a manuscript with many of the same features, see a Qur’an copied in Shiraz in AH 823/ 1420 AD, now in the Nasser D Khalili Collection (David James, After Timur, London, 1992, no. 4, pp. 26-27).

(12873) 38 Large three-volume Qur’an in bihari script North India Sultanate Period, 15th century AD

Unusually large Arabic manuscript on thin cream paper, approx. 488 folios in 3 volumes, 15 lines of bold bihari script in black, blue and gold ink, text block ruled in a double frame of red, blue and gold, individual verses marked in gold roundels with dotted blue and red borders, large illuminated marginal ornament in gold, red, blue and green, illuminated surah headings in red, green and blue, the word allah is written in gold ink, marginal text in red, black and blue ink, 5 double-page illuminations in red, blue, gold and green, some staining and repair, later morocco bindings 52.6 x 31.4 cm This is a spectacular Sultanate Qur’an, complete in three volumes, and luxuriously decorated. The text is written in black, red, blue and gold ink, and there are four vibrantly decorated double-page openings. Only a small number of Islamic manuscripts have survived from the pre-Mughal period in India in anything other than fragmentary form. Unfavourable climatic conditions and political instability probably account for the widespread destruction of manuscripts from this period. The present Qur’an is a rare example of an intact manuscript in fine condition and a superb illustration of the vibrancy of the pre-Mughal tradition of Qur’an production. Qur’ans written in the bihari script appear mainly to be the product of fourteenth or fifteenth century India; this attribution is based on other studied manuscripts of the same area dating from 1399 to 1483. Similar, though smaller, examples include a manuscript in the Nasser D Khalili Collection (inv. no QUR237) and a further example from the Tareq Rajab Museum (see N. Safwat, The Harmony of Letters: Islamic Calligraphy from the Tareq Rajab Museum, National Heritage Board, Singapore, 1997, p. 88). Bihari script is notable for the contrasting shapes of the vertical and horizontal letters, such as the thin line of the letter alif, and the thick horizontal strokes of letters such as nun and ta. Although origins of the script are obscure, it may be a relative of the naskh script which evolved in India. The earliest Qur’an of this type known to exist is dated AH 801 (1399 AD) from Gwalior, near

Delhi, housed in the collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (see S. Canby, Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian paintings from the collection of Prince and Princess Sudruddin Aga Khan, London 1998, item 76, pp. 106-7); the bihari school of manuscript production only remained active for 150 years, after which elements of it were absorbed by the later Mughal schools. Few Qur’ans of this kind survive, perhaps due to the destruction caused by the invasion of Timur’s armies in 1398, but a later date may point to an active culture of Qur’an production and illumination in pre-Mughal India. The large size of the folios is rare and unusual for a Qur’an written in the bihari style. A number of features in the illumination indicate North India’s political and cultural ties with Iran. The floral sprays that enliven the grounds of many of the illuminated details and the pink cross-hatching that surrounds the text on the illuminated double-pages are common features of fifteenth-century Timurid and Turkoman Qur’ans. Indian Qur’ans of the period can easily be distinguished, however, by the idiosyncratic version of naskh script they employ, frequently referred to as bihari. This term of obscure origin is unlikely to refer to the Bihar region of India, where no tradition of manuscript copying and few great mosques or madrasahs existed. (J.P. Losty, The Art of the Book in India, London, 1982, p. 39). The tradition of copying Qur’ans in bihari script appears to have been short-lived, coinciding with the period between the collapse of the Delhi sultanate in the last years of the fourteenth century and the consolidation of Mughal power in the middle of the sixteenth. (see D. James, After Timur: Qur’ans of the 15th and 16th centuries, London, 1992, p. 104). This Qur’an incorporates many of the most colourful and unusual features associated with bihari Qur’ans. The Qur’anic text has been copied in three different colours, with every two lines of black script inserted between alternating single lines of gold or blue script. The outer margins contain a zig zag commentary on parts of the text, a common characteristic in bihari Qur’ans, with individual words from the main text written in red ink to indicate the alternative readings. A line of text in blue or gold outlined in black and a large pear-shaped marginal illuminated medallion marks a new juz’ in gold thulth script. The fifteenth century style extensive and elaborate marginal commentaries in Persian, as well as the words written in a larger hand in the middle margins which indicate different readings according to different readers, may suggest that this Qur’an was originally produced for a great mosque or a madrasah (theological school). The final three leaves in this Qur’an contain a falnamah, or divination text, typical of sixteenth century Qur’ans from both India and Persia. The use of the nasta‘liq script, though of the fifteenth century style, is likely to belong to early sixteenth century India. For other Sultanate Qur’ans and dispersed leaves see David James, After Timur: Qur’ans of the 15th and 16th Centuries, The Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Oxford, 1992, nos. 27–28, pp. 102-07; J.P. Losty and P. Pal, Indian Painting: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum Art Collection, Los Angeles, 1993, no. 40; A. Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy, Leiden, 1970, pl. xxii; S. Canby, Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian paintings from the collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, London, 1998, no. 76, p. 106. Provenance There are several notes in Persian dating from later periods. A note on the first folio (on the recto side of the double-page illuminated frontispiece) is a waqf (endowment) note in a late seventeenth or early eighteenth century hand, stating that this Qur’an should never leave the tomb, and that pilgrims to it should use it. It ends with a prayer. The inscription has been partly

washed off, and the name of the shrine has been removed. Below this note is a seal impression containing the inscription ‘Sa'dallah Muhammad Wali’ with the date 1105 (1693-4). A later note on the verso side of the final double-page illumination, containing an illegible date (probably AH 1131/ 1718 AD, judging from the hand), is written by a certain Mirza Muhammad Salih Hasani working for Reza Quli son of Pahlavan Quli in the province of Orissa. He bought the Qur’an which was in tatters from a certain Shaykh Hashim and met a book-binder by the name of Sa’dallah who agreed to restore the manuscript provided he could get help from two or three other restorers. (This may be the same Sa’dallah contained in the seal inscription above.) The binding took five months to complete. Interestingly, this note does not mention the Mughal regnal year, as is usual in Qur’ans of this period; Orissa did not come under Mughal rule until 1576 AD, at which time it was divided into two main regions: the coastal plain, known as Mughalbandi, and the central, northern, western and southern hilly areas, known as Garjat. The Garjat continued to be ruled by Hindu kings paying tribute to the Mughal Empire until they were ceded to the Marathas in 1751 AD. The lack of mention of a Mughal regnal year in this manuscript may indicate that it was located in the Garjat region during the eighteenth century. A further inscription in a more recent hand, dating from 1331 (1911), is written by a certain Nawwab Bahadur Khan, the great grand son of Nawwab Hafiz Rahmat Khan Bahadur (1708-1774), who was the governor of Rohilkhand in North India from 1749 to 1774. Several later printed inscriptions throughout the Qur’an, saying ‘Kutub khane (library/book depository) Qazi ibn Ahmad Sahib Ra’is Giya’, suggest that these volumes once belonged in the library of one Qazi, son of Ahmad Sahib Ra’is Giya.

(12588) 39 Large leaf from a monumental Qur’an in Bihari script North India Sultanate Period, 15th century AD Surah 8 (al-Anfal/ the Spoils of War), vv. 38-41

Unusually large folio from an Arabic manuscript on brittle cream paper, 15 lines of bold bihari script in black, text block ruled in a double frame of red and blue, individual verses marked in gold roundels with dotted borders, a large illuminated marginal ornament in gold, red, blue and green; the word allah is written in red ink; marginal text in red and black ink; paper has been damaged and cut at the top and bottom with some restoration around the edges, water stain in top right corner of the folio and margin 52.6 x 31.4 cm The outer margins contain a zig zag commentary on parts of the text, a common characteristic in bihari Qur’ans, with individual words from the main text written in red ink to indicate the alternative readings. Two folios from the same Qur’an are held in the Nasser D Khalili Collection (see D. James, After Timur: Qur’ans of the 15th and 16th Centuries, The Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Oxford, 1992, no. 27, pp. 103-105). For other examples and dispersed leaves, see J.P. Losty and P. Pal, Indian Painting: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, Los Angeles, 1993, no. 40; A. Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy, Leiden, 1970, pl. xxii; S. Canby, Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian paintings from the collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, London, no. 76, p. 106.

(12872) 40 Miniature Qur’an Iran c. 1500

Arabic manuscript on paper, cut into octagonal leaves, 214 folios each with 16 lines of minute naskh script in black ink, text enclosed in an octagonal frame in gold and red, surah headings in gold thulth, no apparent verse markers, opening double-page illumination has 8 lines of black naskh to the page set in an octagon containing four petals in gold on a ground of blue, overlaid with delicate polychrome floral arabesques, contemporary binding of lacquer over copper with leather spine, much of lacquer missing, inside doublures painted in red, accompanying turquoise silk embroidered carrying case Manuscript: 4 x 4 cm Case: 7 x 7 cm The decorative style of this miniature Qur’an, with the combination of blue, black and red colours in the illuminated frontispiece, is consistent with late-Timurid Persia. Miniature Qur’ans were frequently used as talismans during battles, placed in metal cases which were attached to battle standards, or used for protection during travel.

The fine binding shows traces of copper with a lacquer border of delicately executed floral scrolls. One of the earliest known examples of lacquer binding, dating from 1480-90 in Herat, Afghanistan, is the binding of a Qur’an located in the Nasser D Khalili collection, which has an almost identical outer border of floral scrolls to the present example (inv. no. QUR323). The decorative style of the illuminated double-page frontispiece and the striking similarity to the early Herat-style lacquer binding is argument for placing this miniature Qur’an in late fifteenth century Iran, rather than the Ottoman Empire. A small turquoise silk and cloth pouch, beautifully embroidered with gold metallic wire and different coloured threads that make up vegetal motifs, was used as a carrying case for this Qur’an. The cloth and style of embroidery suggest that it was made in seventeenth or eighteenth century Iran.

(12694) 41 Prayer scroll Ottoman Turkey Shaykh Hamdullah al-Amasi and others c. 1500

Arabic manuscript in scroll format on paper, 9 sheets glued together, illuminated heading in gold, blue, orange and yellow, naskh and muhaqqaq scripts with surrounding miniature naskh ghubar script all executed by several different scribes, floral decorations in blue, black, yellow and orange, with an added sheet (circa 1550) attached at the original end, with leather flap 225 x 7.1 cm

This precious scroll is the work of three different scribes. The reserve muhaqqaq (surrounded by a miniature nask ghubar script executed by another scribe), the large black naskh at the beginning of the scroll where his signature is located, and the illuminated roundel, are all the work of Shaykh Hamdullah. The rest of the scroll is the work of two inferior scribes, presumably students of Hamdullah. Shaykh Hamdullah, the most famous of all Ottoman calligraphers, flourished between 1480 and 1521 AD. He was born in Amasya, in central Anatolia, a major centre for the study of calligraphy. After practising and teaching in Amasya, he followed Sultan Bayezid II (r. 1481-1512) to Istanbul, where he produced many celebrated albums, Qur’ans, scrolls and prayer books. As far as we know, Shaykh Hamdullah did not collaborate with other masters on individual works of calligraphy. He taught many students in his lifetime, one of which was his son, Mustafa Dede ibn Shaykh Hamdullah, who also became a respected calligrapher of the Ottoman Empire. The present scroll has been reversed sometime in the mid-16th century, and an illuminated headpiece attached to the ending. The final sheet, which is the original beginning of the scroll, contains a large central line of black naskh script, beneath which Shaykh Hamdullah’s signature is located. It says: ‘written by Hamdullah the famous’ and then followed by an alif starting the words of ibn al-shaykh, which has been smudged. The style of this signature, which seems to have been written before the decoration was applied, is identical to that in a work in the Topkapi Saray Museum (E.H. 2074).

The scroll contains prayers, sayings, and verses of the Qur’an as well as hadith, and was perhaps used as an amulet for protection. Rolled up, it could fit easily into a small cylindrical carrying case, also commonly used for the transportation of Qur’ans in vertical scroll format. There are various invocations to the prophets: the first is an invocation to Allah and Ibrahim (Abraham): ‘There is no God but God, and Ibrahim was his friend’; the last invocation is to Musa (Moses): ‘There is no God but God, and Musa spoke with God’. It is likely that these invocations were common to a particular sect, as Shaykh Hamdullah, who belonged to the Zeyni order of dervishes, started the custom of affiliating calligraphers to dervish orders. The illumination has similarities to several of Hamdullah’s works in the Topkapi Saray Museum: the gold floral scroll decoration on a blue and black background can be compared to no 402 in the Turk ve Islam Eserleri Muzesi in Istanbul; a manuscript in a private collection in Turkey (see M. Serin, Hatat Seyh Hamdullah, Istanbul, 1992, p. 120), and no. 6662 in the Library of the Univesity of Istanbul. The illuminated floral decoration in the present manuscript is also similar to the delicate floral scrolls in the illuminated frontispiece of a Qur’an dating to 1499 completed by Shaykh Hamdullah, now in the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul (inv. no. E.H. 71). It has been suggested that the decoration in the present scroll is characteristic of Anatolian work, which may suggest that this is an early work by the master. Complex and refined in design, the scroll preserves the work of one of the greatest calligraphers. It also records Hamdullah’s work as a teacher, combining the more uneven contributions of his pupils with the larger, more refined scripts in black and in gold, especially reserved for the master scribe.

‘Signature’

(12170) 42 Small Illuminated Qur’an Hyderabad Signed and dated AH 937/ 1530-1 AD, with later additions

Arabic manuscript on paper, 322 folios, 13 lines of minute naskh script in black ink to the page, pronunciation marks in red ink, surah headings highlighted in gold, catchwords, copious marginalia in black and red, written diagonally and upside-down; framed in gold, outer margin ruled in faded blue; small gold discs as verse markers, marginal palmettes, lozenges and mihrab motifs denote larger textual division; lavish illuminated double-page frontispiece in polychrome and gold; colophon, opening of Qur’an repeated at end, seal impression on f.1r, ‘Anan al-faqir …’; 17th century cream lacquer binding, vegetal sprays and arabeques in gold, slight staining, otherwise in excellent condition 12.7 x 8.7 cm The colophon states that the owner of this Qur’an was also the scribe, Abdul-Haqq Sabzevari, completed at Hyderabad, the Deccan in AH 937/ 1530-1 AD. The fine illuminated double page opening of this Qur’an relates closely to a group of Qur’ans produced in Hyderabad, the Deccan, in the eighteenth century; two illuminated Qur’ans in the Khalili Collection show similar styles of illumination and decoration (see Bayani, Contadini & Stanley, The Decorated Word, Qur’ans of the 17th to 19th Centuries, Part I, Oxford, 1999, nos. 67 -70, pp. 206-224). This sixteenth-century Qur’an was re-illuminated and rebound in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries for a princely treasury. The exquisite lacquer covers richly decorated with intertwining floral motifs in red, green and gold on a white ground echo the same motifs to be found on carved gemstones and bidri work of the same period; compare with a locket pendant in the Al-Sabah Collection - Kuwait National Museum (see Keene and Kaoukji, Treasury of the World: Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals, London, 2001, no. 10.4, p. 126.) This can also be compared to the winding foliage in the borders of a Bidri huqqa base (see Zebrowski, Gold, Silver & Bronze from Mughal India, London, 1997, no. 504).

(12719) 43 Illuminated Qur’an leaf Iran or Ottoman Turkey Circa AH 932/ 1525 AD - AH 957/ 1550 AD Surah 96 (al-'Alaq/ the Clot) v. 15- Surah 99 (al-Zilzal/ the Earthquake) v. 6

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on paper, 10 lines of black naskh script to the page, each line set within cloud panels on a burnished gold background, text block ruled in gold, red, green and orange, individual verses marked with gold rosettes pointed in blue, surah headings in white thulth in gold cartouches set within gold and blue illuminated panels with floral decoration, the text block has been re-set in newer paper, and the ruling repaired using pieces possibly taken from the same manuscript, text and illumination otherwise in excellent condition 33 x 21.5 cm The style of illumination, decoration and calligraphy in this leaf demonstrates the frequent movement of artists between artistic centres in northern Persia and the Ottoman Empire. The general style of the surah headings, with the gold cartouches on a dark blue background, points to a Persian origin, while the naskh and thulth scripts, as well as the use of the colour orange in the illumination, may suggest an early Ottoman origin for this leaf. The most striking feature of this leaf is the illuminated gold background, which is highlighted by the fine naskh script set in rows of wide cloudbands. The lavish use of gold would suggest that this leaf once belonged to a Qur’an commissioned by a wealthy patron, or even a member of the royal courts.

(12627) 44 Qur’an leaf in gold and black muhaqqaq script Iran c. 1525-1550 Surah 68 (al-Qalam/ the Pen), v. 32 - Surah 69 (al-Haqa/ the Reality)

Folio from an Arabic manuscript on paper, 10 and 12 lines of gold and black muhaqqaq script to the page, each line set within ruled and shaded panel, text block ruled in gold, blue, green and orange, individual verses marked with gold rosettes pointed in blue, fifth verse marked with blue palmettes bordered in gold filled with gold trefoil and polychrome floral scroll, tenth verses marked with gold octagonal stars bordered in blue, filled with polychrome floral scroll, hizb division marked in margin in gold thulth script, surah heading in white thulth in gold cartouche set within gold and blue illuminated panel 40.2 x 29 cm This distinctive leaf combines the grandeur of sixteenth-century Safavid Qur’an production with a textual format highly unusual for the period. Though Qur’ans and manuscripts copied with each line of text within coloured panels were popular in Iran and India during the eighteenth century, very few examples survive from previous centuries. Here, gold muhaqqaq script alternates with black, while the panels are shaded in white, light and dark brown. The only other recorded leaves from this manuscript are a single leaf in the Khalili Collection, and a single leaf in a private collection in Geneva (see David James, After Timur, London, 1992, no. 42, pp. 170-71).

(5865) 45 Section from a Qur’an Iran c. 1550 AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 13 folios, fly leaves at beginning and end, three panels of a single line of muhaqqaq script alternating with two panels of four lines of naskh script to the page, single verses marked with rosettes pointed in blue and red, fifth verse marked in margins with gold and blue roundels, column of gold floral scroll on either side of each panel of naskh, margins ruled in blue and gold, illuminated headpiece on f. 1r, contemporary leather binding with gilt stamped central panel with central oval medallion and border of Prophetic traditions in gold stamped cartouches, tan doublures with polychrome filigree central medallions 25.1 x 19.2 cm Qur’ans written in alternating blocks of different script were a Safavid speciality of the sixteenth century. Whereas most Safavid Qur’ans are single volume tomes, however, this is a volume from a multi-set Qur’an. All other features, such as the gilt binding with a border of inscriptions from Prophetic traditions, and the polychrome filigree doublures, are in the classic Safavid tradition.

(3847026) 46 Qur’an leaf with gold and blue muhaqqaq script Persia Late 16th century Surah 9 (al-Tawba/ Repentance) v. 121 - Surah 10 (Yunus/ Jonah) v. 3

Folio from Arabic manuscript on paper, 13 lines per page, first, seventh and thirteenth line in large muhaqqaq script in blue and gold ink, other lines in small naskh script in black ink, decorated gold florets between verses, margins ruled in colours and gold, illuminated circular device with floral decoration in margins, surah headings in white thulth on illuminated panels 23.7 X 16.5 cm This elegant leaf displays the subtlety and majesty seen in smaller sixteenth century Persian Qur’ans. The smaller naskh script, executed in black, provides a distinct balance between the bold and visually striking characteristics of the larger blue and gold muhaqqaq script, placed in equally spaced ruled panels at the top, middle and end of each page. The highly decorative surah heading on the verso side has maintained the geometric symmetry of the ruled text block by taking the place of the middle gold muhaqqaq panel. The word hizb, written in blue ink above the illuminated marginal roundel on the recto side, marks the half of the juz’ (section), in this case juz’ 11 (Surah al-Tawba/ Repentance, v. 93 - Surah Hud / Hud, v. 5) The layout of the text, into two blocks of small naskh script and three lines of larger muhaqqaq, is similar to that of a sixteenth century Qur’an in the Khalili Collection, illustrated on pp. 134-135 of D. James, After Timur, Oxford, 1992. The marginal gold roundels with blue floral devices, and the use of gold and blue in the muhaqqaq script is similar to that of a Qur’an from Herat, also in the Khalili Collection, illustrated in D. James 1992, pp. 138-139.

(6362) 47 Qur’an in naskh script Ottoman Empire About AH 920/ 1520 AD - AH 950/ 1550 AD

Arabic manuscript on polished cream paper, 291 folios, 14 lines of black naskh script per page, recitation marks and some marginal commentary in red, margins ruled in gold, blue and orange, individual verses marked with gold rosettes pointed in blue and red, fifth verse divisions marked with blue roundels with gold foliate device in centre, surrounded by gold ring edged in blue with extending blue finials, surah headings in gold riqa‘ in ‘cloud’ cartouches on a pink ground, enclosed in illuminated panels, illuminated double-page frontispiece (f. 1v-2r) with Qur’anic text framed by panels containing surah headings in gold cartouches on a gold and blue ground filled with gold and coloured floral scrolls and palmettes, border of frontispiece contains orange and green star-shaped quatrefoils with gold hasps projecting from the midpoint into the outer margins, original leather binding with gold block-stamped central panel and smaller border panels, doublures of gold filigree over coloured grounds 24.5 x 37.2 cm Ottoman manuscript illumination was highly eclectic in the first half of the sixteenth century, reflecting the presence in the Ottoman Empire of artists from all over the Islamic world. The illumination in this large and luxuriously produced Qur’an shows the strong influence of Eastern Iranian traditions, an attested feature of a group of Ottoman manuscripts dating from c. 1520-50 (E. Atil, The Age of Süleyman the Magnificent, Washington D.C., 1987, pp. 29-36). This influence is particularly visible in the frontispiece, where the illuminated panels with black borders above and below the text and the gold hasps projecting into the margins from the centre of the smooth border are reminiscent of early sixteenth-century Herati and Bukharan work. For similar examples, see an illuminated frontispiece to a copy of the Divan of Sultan Husayn Mirza, in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, inv. no. 1926 (published in T.W. Lentz and G.D. Lowry, Timur and the Princeley Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century, Los Angeles, 1989, no. 148, pp. 268-69, 359), and also a Qur’an in the Khalili Collection, inv. no. QUR114 (published in D. James, After Timur: Qur’ans of the 15th and 16th centuries, London, 1992, no. 33, pp. 124-25.).

Certain features, however, particularly the scrolls of black lotus flowers in the gold cartouches of the frontispiece, the pink shaded areas of the surah headings, and the combination of red and pale green throughout the illumination, are associated with Ottoman manuscripts of the period. This attribution is supported by Arabic notes pertaining to the sale of the manuscript in an Ottoman riq‘a hand on f. 1r. An unusual feature of the illumination is the row of orange and green star-shaped quatrefoils running inside the border of the frontispiece, in place of the more usual split palmettes. This feature, in the same green and gold combination, is found in the details of same late Timurid Herati work (see, for example, a leaf from the same copy of the Divan of Sultan Husayn Mirza, now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, inv. no. M.73.5.599, illustrated in Lentz and Lowry, 1989, no. 149, pp. 270, 359).

(6509) 48 Large illuminated Qur’an India, probably Kashmir c. 1700

Arabic manuscript on polished paper, 537 folios each with 11 lines, of which the first, sixth and eleventh are in bold local variant of thulth, mainly in black, some in blue or gold, the remainder in clear naskh, interlinear gilt decoration throughout, floral decoration in gold and colours in text borders and outer margin throughout, surah headings in white within gold panel, various polychrome marginal medallions demarcate fifth and tenth verses, ff. 1v-2r, 239-230r, 536v-537r contain double page illuminations, ff. 87v-88r, 317v-318r have outer margins decorated with floral motifs in gold, later red morocco binding with gilt decoration, skilfully repaired on upper cover 22 x 33 cm This elegant Qur’an is a pristine and lavishly illuminated example of a late Mughal Qur’an in a striking local style. Perhaps because of the relative lack of imperial Qur’anic commissions, Qur’an production in North India was much less standardized than in Iran, leaving the calligraphers and illuminators more room for variation and invention. The manuscript contains three illuminated bifolia of markedly different designs. The first follows a standard Indo-Persian pattern, though the bold black and gold floral border and the substitution of orange-red for the more Safavid red, are typically Indian. The text is laid out in two blocks of black naskh in clouds against a gold ground separated by a line of large bold muhaqqaq in blue. The second bifolium, located in the middle of the manuscript, is much more indicative of a local tradition, with a border of trilobed cusps within a rectangular frame, and a predominantly pink and light-blue palette. Again the text is divided into three blocks, with two panels of small black naskh above and below a central one in a very bold and beautiful black thulth. The last bifolium again is also strikingly individual. The thick gold tendrils in the borders, filled with colourful floral scroll, and the black stippling surrounding the four line of large black thulth are representative of a bold local idiom. The remaining text of the manuscript has been lavishly laid out on each page in a series of repeating thulth and naskh scripts.

For a late seventeenth-century Indian Qur’an that shares the same textual fromat as well as the border of scrolling floral design framing the blocks of naskh text, see Manijeh Bayani et al, The Decorated Word, London, 1999, no. 62, pp. 194-95).

(6049) 49 Miniature Qur’an with enamelled box Mughal India Signed and dated AH 962/ 1555 AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, cut into octagonal leaves, 379 folios each with 14 lines of minute ghubari script in black ink, text enclosed in a circular frame in gold and blue; surah headings in red thulth, verse markers in the form of gold dots, opening double-page illumination has 7 lines of black naskh to the page set in a circle, concentric circles of gold and blue move outwards, surrounded by eight petals in gold on a ground of blue, overlaid with delicate polychrome floral arabesques, all encircled by a gold chain motif, binding of red leather, painted with gold floral arabesques encircling a central spray of leaves, good condition 4.4 x 4.6 cm On the last page is a colophon, giving the scribe’s name as ‘Ali al-‘Abadi and the date of copying as AH 962/ 1555 AD. The style is consistent with India, but a Persian origin is also possible. A precious silver and enamel box was made to fit the manuscript by a Mughal craftsman in the eighteenth century. It is finely decorated in green and blue enamel, with a spray of flowers on each of its eight sides. On the lid, a pattern of flowers and leaves in blue and green, arranged in two crosses which interlink to form an octagon, is surrounded by a blue band inlaid with gold quatrefoil motifs. On the base is a single figure of eight leaves in blue. The decoration strongly resembles that on an octagonal pandan published in M. Zebrowski, Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India, London, 1997, p.90, fig 79: ‘[Its] palette – mainly restricted to dark blue and green – resembles that of Lucknow pieces, but the poetry of its surfaces, like a garden in vigorous growth, has little else in common with them. It may be an early example of a type of enamelled ware that was only later associated with Lucknow, dating possibly from the earlier part of the eighteenth century before that city was founded.’ The lid slides into the base, aligning on each side a triple set of rings through which can be passed a thong for carrying the Qur’an. ‘It must hang down the right side, and should never depend below the waist belt.’ (Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to al-Madinah and Mecca, New York, 1964, vol. 1, p. 239).

(6362) 47 Qur’an in naskh script Ottoman Empire About AH 920/ 1520 AD - AH 950/ 1550 AD

Arabic manuscript on polished cream paper, 291 folios, 14 lines of black naskh script per page, recitation marks and some marginal commentary in red, margins ruled in gold, blue and orange, individual verses marked with gold rosettes pointed in blue and red, fifth verse divisions marked with blue roundels with gold foliate device in centre, surrounded by gold ring edged in blue with extending blue finials, surah headings in gold riqa‘ in ‘cloud’ cartouches on a pink ground, enclosed in illuminated panels, illuminated double-page frontispiece (f. 1v-2r) with Qur’anic text framed by panels containing surah headings in gold cartouches on a gold and blue ground filled with gold and coloured floral scrolls and palmettes, border of frontispiece contains orange and green star-shaped quatrefoils with gold hasps projecting from the midpoint into the outer margins, original leather binding with gold block-stamped central panel and smaller border panels, doublures of gold filigree over coloured grounds 24.5 x 37.2 cm Ottoman manuscript illumination was highly eclectic in the first half of the sixteenth century, reflecting the presence in the Ottoman Empire of artists from all over the Islamic world. The illumination in this large and luxuriously produced Qur’an shows the strong influence of Eastern Iranian traditions, an attested feature of a group of Ottoman manuscripts dating from c. 1520-50 (E. Atil, The Age of Süleyman the Magnificent, Washington D.C., 1987, pp. 29-36). This influence is particularly visible in the frontispiece, where the illuminated panels with black borders above and below the text and the gold hasps projecting into the margins from the centre of the smooth border are reminiscent of early sixteenth-century Herati and Bukharan work. For similar examples, see an illuminated frontispiece to a copy of the Divan of Sultan Husayn Mirza, in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, inv. no. 1926 (published in T.W. Lentz and G.D. Lowry, Timur and the Princeley Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century, Los Angeles, 1989, no. 148, pp. 268-69, 359), and also a Qur’an in the Khalili Collection, inv. no. QUR114 (published in D. James, After Timur: Qur’ans of the 15th and 16th centuries, London, 1992, no. 33, pp. 124-25.).

Certain features, however, particularly the scrolls of black lotus flowers in the gold cartouches of the frontispiece, the pink shaded areas of the surah headings, and the combination of red and pale green throughout the illumination, are associated with Ottoman manuscripts of the period. This attribution is supported by Arabic notes pertaining to the sale of the manuscript in an Ottoman riq‘a hand on f. 1r. An unusual feature of the illumination is the row of orange and green star-shaped quatrefoils running inside the border of the frontispiece, in place of the more usual split palmettes. This feature, in the same green and gold combination, is found in the details of same late Timurid Herati work (see, for example, a leaf from the same copy of the Divan of Sultan Husayn Mirza, now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, inv. no. M.73.5.599, illustrated in Lentz and Lowry, 1989, no. 149, pp. 270, 359).

(12472) 50 Qur’an in 30 Sections China 18th century

30-volume Arabic manuscript on paper, each volume c. 60 folios, 5 lines of black muhaqqaq script to the page, diacritics in red and black, individual verses marked with red double petals, surah headings in red, margins ruled in red, each juz’ begins with illuminated frontispiece, preceded by illuminated roundel added at later date, inscriptions and seal impressions in Chinese, brown morocco binding with stamped rosettes and lozenges, modern brown leather slip-cases 24.8 x 18.4 cm With their illuminated opening bifolia and crisp, distinctive muhaqqaq script, this is a complete and classic example of a multi-volume Chinese Qur’an set. Each volume is preserved within the original covers, stamped with rosettes and lozenges, and pointed flap.

Qur’ans were probably first produced in China in the Mongol period, during which the Muslim population of China greatly increased. After the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Qur’an production in China remained isolated from trends in the West, and continued to develop from the archaic Iranian style that was popular in the pre- and early Mongol period. Isolation from Islamic lands to the West meant that Chinese Qur’an production was remarkably conservative. Only condition and paper distinguish this eighteenth-century Qur’an from the earliest surviving Chinese Qur’an, which is dated 804/ 1401 (see Tim Stanley, The Decorated Word, London, 1999, pp. 12-13).

(12889) 51 Juz’ 16 from a Qur’an China 18th century Surah 18 (al-Kahf/ the Cave) v. 75 – Surah 20 (Taha/ Ta Ha) v. 135

Arabic manuscript on thick burnished cream paper, 54 folios, 5 lines of black muhaqqaq script to the page, diacritics in red and black, individual verses marked with red double-petal motif, surah headings in red ink, margins ruled in red, double page illuminated frontispiece preceded by illuminated roundel with inscription, contemporary brown morocco binding with stamped central medallion and corner motifs and a hatched border 26 x 18.5 cm The striking and richly illuminated frontispiece in this Qur’an display a decorative style truly local to the Chinese artistic tradition: the floral motifs consist of cherry blossoms and other flora native to China, and the abundant use of the colour red is traditionally used to symbolise honour, fortune and happiness. The shape and the cloud-scroll decoration of the lobed panels at the top and bottom of both pages, as well as the large semi-circular motifs with which they are connected to form a frame for the three-line text are also reminiscent of architectural styles and decorative designs associated with the traditional architecture. An illuminated roundel inscribed with ‘The Words of God’ precede the illuminated frontispiece; further inscribed roundels decorate the corners of the rectangular panels on the frontispiece, and refer to various attributes and qualities associated with Allah, such as ‘truth’ (haqq), ‘powerful’ (qawy), and ‘guardian’ (wakeel). The inscriptions in the rectangular panels at the top and bottom of the frontispiece make up Surah 56 (al-Waqi’a/ the Inevitable), vv. 77-79.

(9701) 52 Miniature Qur’an Iran Dated AH 1307 (November 1888 AD)

Arabic manuscript on laid European paper, 196 folios, 21 lines of small naskh script in black ink to the page, verse divisions marked by golden dots, elaborately illuminated double-page frontispiece in pink, blue, red and gold, surah headings on gold illuminated cartouches, colophon with date, European-style binding with a lacquer cover richly decorated with a floral ornament and leather spine 9 x 5.8 cm The opening frontispiece of this miniature Qur’an is vibrantly illuminated with floral motifs in gold and various colours, and large foliate corner devices. The brightly coloured floral ornament on the lacquer binding is typical of the late Qajar period, when European styles heavily influenced art and culture in Iran.

(12466) 53 Two-volume Qur’an with accompanying storage case Morocco 19th century AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 2 volumes, 224 and 252 leaves, 11 lines of Maghribi script to the page, diacritics in green red and yellow, surah headings in larger red script, each volume opens with an illuminated panel containing inscription in gold thulth script, contemporary red morocco binding with stamped central medallion and gilt border, the original painted wooden case 7 x 7.7 cm The last decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a late golden age of Moroccan manuscript production and calligraphy. The heading to Surah 1 (al-Fatiha/ the opening) in volume one of this charming two-volume Qur’an set is illuminated in ‘kaleidoscope’ style typical of the period, with different coloured sections formed by overlapping semicircles. The Qur’an is bound in a high-quality deep red morocco binding with gilt decoration, and is housed in a charming wooden storage box. For analogous illumination from the same period, see M. Sijelmassi, Enluminures des manuscrits royaux au Maroc, Paris, 1987, esp. pp. 104, 108, 110, 111, 113, 114.

(10735) 54 Qur’an East Africa Signed and dated 1845 AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 162 folios, 19 lines of small Western Sudanese script to the page, individual verses marked in yellow, surah headings in yellow, sajda (prostration) marker written in yellow in the margin, some stains and tears, leather and cloth binding 22 x 17.5 cm In East Africa, Arab merchants established settlements as early as the tenth century, which grew into cosmopolitan mercantile states such as Mogadishu, Barawa, Mombasa, Malindi, Kilwa and Zanzibar. A unique tradition in the arts developed with the influence of the Islamic arts; this is illustrated in the unusual decoration of the illuminated frontispiece in this Qur’an - in yellow and black geometric designs - which shows influences from the traditions of Islamic manuscript production as well as a local style, perhaps from the coastal area of East Africa. Qur’ans from this area are rarely dated or signed, but a colophon on the last page states the scribe’s name as ‘Al-Rahi al-‘Amud’, and gives a date of 26 Sha’aban 1262 (1845 AD).

(10069) 55 Qur’an Western Sudan Late 19th century

Arabic manuscript on paper, 521 folios, 14 lines of brown Western Sudanese script to the page, vocalization and surah headings in red, individual verses marked in text with yellow trefoils, tenth verses marked in text with yellow roundels, larger divisions marked in margins with polychrome cartouches and roundels, 3 polychrome illuminated panels (ff. 1v, 260r, 391r), loose leaf, loose cardboard outer covers, stitched leather carrying case 23.2 x 18.2 cm Over 500 folios long, the copying of this large Qur’an must have been the result of considerable patronage. The manuscript’s esteemed status is evident from the unusually large scale of the leaves and the stitched leather carrying case. The polychrome marginalia and three panels of abstract illumination are classic examples of Western Sudanese Qur’anic illumination. For a Western Sudanese Qur’an containing many of the same illuminated features, and also bound between cardboard and held in a stitched leather case, see the copy illustrated in Nabil F. Safwat, Golden Pages, Qur’ans and other manuscripts from the collection of Ghassan I. Shaker, Oxford, 2000, no. 73, pp. 284-85.

(12721) 56 African prayer manual Probably Nigeria Early 20th century AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 64 folios, 4 lines per page of extraordinary multicoloured script, black, brown, green and yellow, letter waw in yellow throughout, vocalised and with diacritics, catchwords in a smaller script, verse divisions marked by yellow trefoils throughout; on f. 1v, a large marginal medallion, multicoloured, contains the inscription ‘The first section, for Monday’, on ff. 17v and 52r, multicoloured marginal devices contain the word darasa (lesson) in a triangulated cartouche resembling a wall-hanging, on f. 1r, a multicoloured carpet design, with six rows of interlocking triangles, framed in black and flecked at the edges with a green and brown hem, contains the title, ‘on how to pray’, and an opening inscription, on f. 64v, another carpet design, in two shades of green crosshatching, contains a closing inscription; modern binding, floral wallpaper doublures, two slight marginal repairs, otherwise in excellent condition 22.2 x 17.7 cm The script of this remarkable manuscript appears to be based on a less cursive, heavier and more angular primitive version of Maghribi, identified by some commentators as ifriqi, which was to prove over time less popular than the more elegant and cursive hand generally identified as Maghribi. In most places the former was supplanted by the latter, although a tradition of the former script was maintained in Northern Nigeria and Western Sudan: see Bivar, A.D.H., The Arabic Calligraphy of West Africa, African Language Review, VII, 1968, pp. 3-15 and Bayani, Contadini & Stanley, The Decorated Word, Oxford 1999, pp. 32-5. A general peculiarity of this script is the form of the letter ha, which occurs in standard Arabic scripts as a loop extending above and below the line, but which in the case of some African manuscripts ‘has the form of two loops of the same size resting on the horizontal base line’ (Stanley, in The Decorated Word, p. 35). Beyond this general consideration, the particular feature of this extraordinary hand is its expansion of the horizontal lines into a bulbous illuminated band, 15mm wide. The ink is bright and fresh and the overall effect is of immense boldness and vivacity; this is clearly a display piece. Precise location is difficult but the place of origin may be narrowed to a band stretching from northern Nigeria eastwards towards the Sudan. The area of Bornu, in particular, is well-known for its manuscript tradition: see Hunwick’s comment that ‘the long Bornu tradition of learning and its important school of calligraphy … remains vital to this day’ (J. O. Hunwick, The writings of Central Sudanic Africa, Arabic Literature of Africa vol. 2, in Handbuch der Orientalistik, Leiden 1995, pp. 2-3).

(11199) 57 Qur’an Printed by al-Hajj Sanusi Dantata Kano, Nigeria AH 1340/ 1920 AD - AH 1350/ 1930 AD

Printed Arabic manuscript on paper, 592 folios, 17 lines of black Western Sudanese script, vocalization in red, yellow and green, surah headings in red, individual verses marked in text by yellow trefoils, tenth verses marked in text by yellow roundels, further divisions marked by polychrome marginal roundels and cartouches, 5 polychrome illuminated panels, bound in pasteboard binding with blue doublures and West African printed cloth stitched over binding 28 x 20.4 cm This lithograph copy of a Qur’an manuscript is an early example of the beginning of printing in Nigeria, when producing luxury polychrome volumes such as this one was a new and expensive endeavour. Alongside the text of the Qur’an, the volume also contains the colourful marginalia and illuminated panels, five in total, of the original manuscript. The title page of the Qur’an contains the information that ‘Al-Hajj Sanusi Dantata Kano’ undertook the printing of this from his own funds’. Al-Hajj Sanusi Dantata was the son of Al-Hajj Al-Hassan Dantata (d. 1955), the scion of the immensely wealthy Dantata family. A man of religion, Al-Hajj was also one of the first prominent Nigerians to make the pilgrimage to Mecca by steam-ship, a journey which took him to France, London and Cairo as well. Unlike most of Al-Hassan’s descendants, Sanusi took a deep interest in religious affairs, and was a member of the Qadiriyya Sufi order, an affiliation that took him to the order’s headquarters in Baghdad. The first printing press in Nigeria was established with the founding of the Native Authority Press in Kano in 1920; judging by the paper and traditional appearance of this Qur’an, it was probably printed not long after.

(12906) 58 Section from a Qur’an in découpage Syria or Turkey c. 1900 Surah 2 (al-Baqarah/ the Cow), vv. 142-252

Arabic manuscript on paper, 54 folios, 5 lines executed in naskh script in découpage per page in various colours, opening folio decorated in star shaped geometric designs on a rectangular background in green and red, with juz’ (section) number heading at the top in a lighter green, verse endings in floral designs, star-shaped geometric marginal decorations, few tears, excellent condition, contemporary leather binding with stamped and gilded central and corner geometric decoration and a knotted border design 32.3 x 16.3 cm Découpage, or the art of paper cutting, has been a tradition in the Islamic world since the fifteenth century. The technique developed in part from the leather and paper filigree decoration seen in the doublures of Timurid manuscripts produced in Iran, and then extended to the art of calligraphy. Qati‘s, or paper cutters, generally used two techniques of découpage. The more difficult method involved cutting out individual words from the chosen material with a sharp knife or scissors, and pasting them onto a coloured background. This needed a degree of extreme precision and care, so that the thin paper strands connecting each word were not torn. The second, and easier, technique involved the opposite: cutting out words from a sheet, and then glueing the sheet down onto a background of one or more colours. Both techniques aimed to make the découpage resemble as much as possible the regular, hand-written calligraphy of a master calligrapher. The Ottomans practiced the art of paper-cutting as early as the sixteenth century; its most renowned master was Fahri ibn Veli, who died in 1618. However, several works in the Khalili Collection (inv. nos. CAL30 and CAL105) are dated as late as the nineteenth century, demonstrating that this was a popular and lasting artistic tradition. (See N. Safwat, The Art of the Pen: Calligraphy of the 14th to 20th Centuries, The Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, 1996).

The present manuscript employs both techniques described above: individual words and decorations have been cut out and pasted onto the paper, but are also covered with a sheet of paper from which the same words have been cut out. The precision and exquisite detail with which this work has been executed resembles some of the highest quality work of Islamic calligraphy.