Lot 47
  • 47

A QUR'AN BIFOLIUM IN EARLY KUFIC SCRIPT ON VELLUM, NORTH AFRICA OR NEAR EAST, PROBABLY UMAYYAD PERIOD, CIRCA 720-50 AD

Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
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Description

  • Ink on Vellum
text: surah al-hadid (LVII), verses 10-17 (f.1a); verses 17-23 (f.1b); verses 13-29 (end of surah, f.2a); surah al-mujadila (LVIII), verses 1-7 (f.2b)
Arabic manuscript on vellum, 16 lines to the page written in early Kufic script in brown ink on vellum, diacritics and orthographics applied in brown ink and with red and green dots, diagonal brown ink dashes between verses, surah heading of Surah al-Mujadila decorated with a panel of vegetal illumination

Condition

In fair overall condition, losses to inner bottom corners, some waterstaining to edges, occasional stains and some minor small holes, ink generally bold, faded on hair side, as viewed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

This is a very rare and highly important example of early Qur'an production. The script is essentially a Kufic type, but shows several primitive features that indicate a formative stage in the development of Qur'anic Kufic scripts, and indeed shows archaic features associated with Hijazi scripts.

Generally, the script resembles that of a fragment of twenty-five folios in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Arabe 334c, ff.25-49, see Déroche 1983, no.9, p.4, pl.II), although the script of the Paris fragment slopes backwards, whereas the script of the present bifolium is quite upright. A fragment of a single folio from the same Qur'an is in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (see Déroche 1992, cat.3, pp.32-33). Déroche categorizes this script as Hijazi IV. Two other fragments in the Bibliothèque Nationale also have scripts that bear a strong similarity to the present example (Arabe 337b, ff.7-9; Arabe 334b, ff.13-24, see Déroche 1983, nos.49, 51, pp.78-79, pls.XII, XIII), which he categorizes as CIa and CIb, both of which he links to Hijazi IV and suggests their usage during the eighth century (Déroche 1992, p.36), and traces certain letter forms as far back as the inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (691 AD).

In the present bifolium many of the letters and words show early characteristics, but the most obvious are the lam-alif, the terminal qaf, the terminal nun, the ra, and the word Allah, which is very close to the form of this word used on a Qur'an fragment in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul (S.321) attributed firmly by Déroche to the Umayyad period and referred to by him as "the Damascus Umayyad Qur'an", (see Déroche 2002, pp.629-640), as well as to the form of Allah used on the well-known Sana'a Umayyad Qur'an, attributed by von Bothmer to circa 710-715 and C14 dated to between 657 and 690 AD (see von Bothmer 1987; von Bothmer, Ohlig and Puin 1999, p.45).

There appear to be probably three stages in the marking of diacritics on the present leaves. The first stage was the original thin dashes applied in light-brown ink – the same ink as inter-versal dashes. These are used only when consonantly necessary, therefore not all letters that have letter-pointing in modern Arabic bear them here. The second stage was the red and green dots of vocalization, probably added in the ninth or tenth century. The third stage consists of an irregular application of shorter dashes in darker, almost black ink, applied sometime after the red and green dots.

The decorative panel of vegetal motifs marking the surah heading is in an archaic style and is another indication of an early date. The motifs and design of the panel on the present leaves are close to the right half of a surah heading panel on the Sana'a Umayyad Qur'an (see above), specifically the surah heading for Surat al-Qiyama (see Amsterdam 1999, cat.40, p.103).