A large illuminated Qur'an, copied by Muhammad Reza ibn Muhammad Taqi al-Tabrizi, dedicated to Samsam al-Daulah Khan-e Dauran, India, Mughal, dated 1145 AH/1732-33 AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 265 leaves, 14 lines to the page, written in naskh script in black ink within cloud bands against a gold-ground text block throughout, verses separated by pointed gold florets, surah headings in white thuluth script within panels embellished with floral endings in colours and gold, illuminated polygonal marginal devices, double page illuminated frontispiece in colours and gold composed of scrolling vines, interlacing split-palmettes within lobed cartouches enclosed within strapwork borders, finispiece with en suite illumination, double page dedication page at end written in thuluth script in red ink against a gold ground with outer borders filled with leafy gold scrolls, later lacquer binding decorated with an interlace of weaving vines

In generally good overall condition, various small repairs to leaf edges throughout, minor stains and creases, illumination bright and ink bold, some wear to binding, spine repaired, as viewed.
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The colophon of the present manuscript says this is the twenty-first copy of the Qur’an the scribe has copied and it was for a high official with the titles Samsam al-Daulah, Zargham al-Saltanah, Amir al-Umara, Khan-e Dauran Khan Bahadur. 

Judging by the titles, the person for which this Qur'an was copied must be Khwajah ‘Asim from Badakhshan who moved to Agra with his family and entered the Mughal court. He rose in position and rank under Muhammad Farukh Siyar and was honoured with various titles including Samsam al-Daulah Khan-e Dauran Bahadur and was made commander-in-chief (Amir al-Umara) under Muhammad Shah. He died in 1738 after the wound he received fighting Nadir’s army (The Maathir ul-umara, translated by H. Beveridge, vol.1, reprint 1999, pp.775-8). For a contemporary Mughal portrait of Samsam al-Daulah Khan-e Dauran watching a firework display, signed by Kalyan Rai, see Sotheby's London, The Khosrovani-Diba Collection, 19 October 2016, lot 17.

The scribe Muhammad Reza was prolific, copying over ninety Qur'an manuscripts. Excluding the copy to hand, six of these are so far recorded: five in the Salar Jung Museum and Library, Hyderabad, and one sold at Bonham's London, 8 October 2013, lot 152. In these copies he signed himself as Muhammad Reza ibn Muhammad Taqi al-Tabrizi (known as Miskin al-Qalandar) and four of them were copied in Hyderabad. 

The six copies were his forty-second (dated 1153 AH/1740 AD), fifty-second (dated 1154 AH/1741-42 AD), fifty-fifth (dated 1155 AH/1742-43 AD), sixty-seventh (dated 1157 AH/1744-45 AD), seventy-fifth (dated 1159 AH/1746-47 AD) and ninety-second (dated 1163 AH/1750 AD) which makes the present copy his earliest recorded so far. 

For the Salar Jung copies, see Muhammad Ashraf, A catalogue of Arabic manuscripts in the Salar Jung Museum & Library, vol.II, Hyderabad, 1962, cat.nos 122, 124, 125-6.