A large illuminated Qur'an, Persia, Herat, second quarter 16th century

Arabic manuscript on paper, 251 leaves plus 4 flyleaves, 17 lines to the page, divided into 2 panels of black naskh script and 3 lines of alternating muhaqqaq script in blue and gold, verses separated by pointed gold roundels, surah headings in red thuluth within illuminated panels, catchwords, margins ruled in colours and gold, spurious colophon in the name of 'Asadullah Kirmani, 885 AH' illuminated marginal devices throughout, each page with scrolling gold vines in vertical columns either side of the text, opening double page frontispiece in colours and gold with text in white muhaqqaq within lobed cartouches, following double page with en suite decoration, later lacquer binding with gold scrolling flowers and gilt-stamped cartouches

Remnants of a 19th-century Indian seal impression on a f.1a: 'The seal of the library of... Bahadur, the Nawwab of Murshid Abad, year 12..' 

In fair overall condition, binding worn and cracked, pages slightly cropped to fit later binding, some splitting to text block borders, various paper repairs throughout, particularly closing pages, frontispiece slightly rubbed, some water staining, as viewed.
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This finely-illuminated Qur'an can be closely compared to another manuscript in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London (QUR251, see David James, After Timur, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Vol.III, London, 1992, pp.128-135, no.35). Although the present work has been placed in a Qajar period lacquer binding in the nineteenth century, the text blocks of each share a number of similarities. The opening double page frontispieces, for example, both incorporate into their design panels of lobed interlocking cartouches above and below the text, as well as employing a band of flowers against a black ground as an inner border. The text pages too share the construction of three larger lines of muhaqqaq (muhaqqaq and thuluth in the Khalili Qur'an), with smaller naskh in the panels between.

Further comparable manuscripts to the present work exist in the British Library, London (published in Y.H. Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, London. 1978, pp.64-65, no.54) and The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (CBL Ms.1558, published in D. James, Qur'an and Bindings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1980, pp.77-79, nos.58-60). Another similar manuscript was sold at Christie's, 9 October 1990, which curiously shared with the present Qur'an a spurious colophon bearing the signature of Asadullah Kirmani, who died in 1486. Typical of the period, all three of the abovementioned Qur'ans contain floral decoration throughout in the panels either side of the text, just as in the present manuscript.