Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
AN ILLUMINATED QUR'AN, COPIED BY IBRAHIM AL-SHEVKI KNOWN AS HAFIZ AL-QUR'AN, TURKEY, OTTOMAN, DATED 1223 AH/1808 AD
Auction Closed
October 27, 04:55 PM GMT
Estimate
7,000 - 10,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
AN ILLUMINATED QUR'AN, COPIED BY IBRAHIM AL-SHEVKI KNOWN AS HAFIZ AL-QUR'AN, TURKEY, OTTOMAN, DATED 1223 AH/1808 AD
Arabic manuscript on paper, 306 leaves including one blank, 15 lines per page written in neat naskh script in black ink, verses separated by gold florets decorated with red and blue dots, sura headings written in white thulth on gold illuminated panels, further text divisions marked in margins with illuminated floral devices, opening double page fully illuminated in colours and gold with a cusped border band of stippled gold, final page with central roundel containing colophon surrounded by floral illumination in colours and gold, contemporary gilt-stamped brown leather binding. red leather doublures decorated with gold trellis pattern
16.3 by 10.5cm
Hafiz Ibrahim al-Shevki (d. after 1829) was an accomplished Ottoman calligrapher of the first half of the nineteenth century. His master was Ismail al-Zuhdi the Second, who selected Shevki as his 'chosen successor'. Shevki was the teacher of Suleyman Vehbi, Seyyid Hafiz Ahmad Asim and Hafiz Ali ibn Mehmed. He studied and worked in Istanbul, where he lived in the Fatih quarter. Some reports suggest that he may have have taught calligraphy in Shumen towards the end of his life, although this is disputed. Two copies of the Qur'an in his hand are in the Topkapi Palace Library and another is in a private collection. For further information and discussion of the scribe see T. Stanley in Bayani, Rogers and Stanley, The Decorated Word, Part Two, Qur'ans of the 17th to 19th centuries, London, 2009, pp.163, 198, 212, 218, 223, 224; M. Ugur Derman, Ninety-nine Qur'an Manuscripts from Istanbul, Istanbul, 2010, pp.308-9.