Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets

Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 20. AN ILLUMINATED QUR’AN JUZ (I), COPIED BY ZAYN AL-‘ABIDIN B. MUHAMMAD AL-KATIB, PERSIA, AQQOYUNLU, LATE 15TH CENTURY.

AN ILLUMINATED QUR’AN JUZ (I), COPIED BY ZAYN AL-‘ABIDIN B. MUHAMMAD AL-KATIB, PERSIA, AQQOYUNLU, LATE 15TH CENTURY

Auction Closed

June 10, 06:00 PM GMT

Estimate

50,000 - 70,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

AN ILLUMINATED QUR’AN JUZ (I), COPIED BY ZAYN AL-‘ABIDIN B. MUHAMMAD AL-KATIB, PERSIA, AQQOYUNLU, LATE 15TH CENTURY


text: surah al-Fatihah (I) to surah al-Baqarah (II), v.141

Arabic manuscript on paper, 18 leaves, 7 lines to the page, the first and seventh line in black muhaqqaq, the fourth line in gold thuluth and the remaining lines in black naskh, ruled in gold and blue, verses separated by pointed gold roundels, polychrome and gold teardrop marginal verse markers, 2 surah headings in gold cursive outlined in black, f.1b and f.2a with a polychrome and gold frontispiece, in brown stamped leather binding with a central almond-shaped medallion


text panel: 24.6 by 18.9cm.

leaf: 36 by 28.8cm.

This juz comes from a fine Royal Qur’an in thirty parts dedicated to the Aqqoyunlu ruler Ya’qub Beg (r.1478-90), and represents one of the finest examples of the juxtaposition of different styles of calligraphy, where the scribe Zayn al-‘Abidin has alternated his use of muhaqqaqthuluth and naskh, in a fine exercise of balance and elegance.


The mixture of different calligraphic styles within the same text is called juxtaposition. This practice, sporadically used in the twelfth century, became much more common in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, especially in Central Asian. Zayn al-‘Abidin b. Muhammad al-Katib al-Shirazi was undoubtedly a master of this technique and in the different volumes of this Qur’an, he tries to alternate between as many of the 'Six Pens' as possible. A partly legible inscription on f.1a of juz XXIX from this series (sold in these rooms 23 October 2019, lot 121) mentions a dedication to the Aqqoyunlu ruler Ya’qub ibn Uzun Hasan Abu’-Fath (r.1478-90), and gives the date 888 AH/1483 AD. Other recorded sections of this Qur’an:


Juz II: Sotheby’s London, 19 April 1983, lot 187, sold again, 23 October 2019, The Shakerine Collection, lot 10.

Juz III: Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, inv.no.Ms.1502, (Arberry 1967, p.45).

A leaf from juz XVI (f.1b), Sotheby’s London, 8 July 1980, lot 161.

Juz XXVI: Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, inv.no.Ms.1501, (Arberry 1967, p.45).

Juz XXIX: Sotheby's London, 23 October 2019, lot 121.

Two ajza' (numbers unknown) recorded as being in the Mashhad Shrine Library and published in Faza’ili (atlas-e khatt, Isfahan, 1391, pp.334-5).


Please see the online version of the catalogue for a longer catalogue note.