THE SHAKERINE COLLECTION: Calligraphy in Qur’ans and other Manuscripts
THE SHAKERINE COLLECTION: Calligraphy in Qur’ans and other Manuscripts
Auction Closed
October 23, 11:03 AM GMT
Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
AN ILLUMINATED MINIATURE QUR’AN IN FITTED LACQUER BOX, COPIED BY MUHAMMAD ‘ALI, PERSIA, QAJAR, DATED 1284 AH/1867-68 AD
Arabic manuscript on paper, 323 leaves plus 4 fly-leaves, 17 lines to the page, written in ghubar in black ink, ruled in black and gold, verses separated by gold dots, surah headings in red rounded cursive against a gold ground within cartouches, gold and polychrome verse markers in the margins, f.1b and f.2a with a double-page spread of illumination consisting of a central lobed panel with red ghubar against a gold ground, f.2b and f.3a with an illuminated double page, f.322b and f.323a with a finispiece bifolium consisting of a central lobed panel with red ghubar against a gold ground, in lacquer binding decorated with flowers, with fitted box
text panel: 5.3 by 3cm.
leaf: 6.9 by 4.1cm.
Christie’s London, 16 June 1987, lot 88.
N. Safwat, A Collector’s Eye. Islamic calligraphy in Qur’ans and other manuscripts, London 2010, no.17, pp.88-89.
This fine miniature Qur’an not only bears the name of the scribe and a date, but has the name of the commissioner, Shahzade Hishmet al-Dawlah Hamza Mirza.