Arts of the Islamic World
Arts of the Islamic World
AN ILLUMINATED MINIATURE QUR’AN IN FITTED BOX, TURKEY, OTTOMAN, DATED 951 AH/1544 AD
Auction Closed
October 23, 04:16 PM GMT
Estimate
7,000 - 10,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
AN ILLUMINATED MINIATURE QUR’AN IN FITTED BOX, TURKEY, OTTOMAN, DATED 951 AH/1544 AD
Arabic manuscript on paper, 325 leaves plus 2 fly-leaves, 17 lines to the page, written in Ghubari in black ink, ruled in black, gold and blue, verses separated by a gold and dot, surah headings in gold, f.1b and 2a with an illuminated frontispice, f.324b with a finispiece bifolium, f.325a and f.325b with a blue and gold decoration consisting of interlacing palmettes, in leather gilt binding decorated, in later metal fitted box
4cm. diam.
This fine miniature Qur’an is remarkable in that it bears not only a date of completion (midday of 3rd Safar 951 AH, 26th April 1544 AD), but also the name of the person to whomit has been dedicated, Shams al-Din Yusef Qabji, two elements quite rare in miniature Qur’ans. Another contemporaneous miniature Qur’an, dated 959 AH/1552 AD and attributed to Shiraz or Qazvin, is now in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (Acc. No.QUR729, published in James 1992, p.173). A square miniature one, dated 954 AH/1547-48 AD and copied by ‘Ali al-Tabbakh al-Shirazi was sold in these rooms, 24 October 2018, lot 23.