TWO LINES FROM A MONUMENTAL QUR'AN IN GOLD MUHAQQAQ SCRIPT, ILKHANID PERSIA OR MAMLUK EGYPT, 14TH CENTURY

This fragment of two lines from the Qur'an, written in a bold, flowing muhaqqaq script, is from what must have been a large and grand manuscript. The fragment is cropped to the edge of the text area, and the width of the lines here and the size of the letters indicate that the original page, with its margins intact, must have measured approximately 50cm wide, pointing to a vertical dimension of perhaps 70 to 80cm (see several Mamluk and Ilkhanid examples of this size in James 1988, cats.28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 40). The use of gold script for the main text of the Qur'an, rather than just for the opening double page, was a rare and luxury feature, and one that indicated an expensive commission. That, combined with the scale of the manuscript, indicates a patron of significant wealth and status, probably a royal one.

Another fragment of two lines from the same Qur'an was sold in these rooms 8 July 1980, lot 163.