A large Qur'an leaf in muhaqqaq script on pink paper, Egypt, Mamluk, circa 728 AH/1327 AD
Auction Closed
March 31, 12:40 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
text: surah al-Naml (XXVII), part of verse 81 to beginning of surah al-Qasas (XXVIII), part of verse 5
Arabic manuscript on paper, 12 lines to the page written in bold muhaqqaq script in black ink, verse divisions marked with gold rosettes, surah heading in Kufic script on an illuminated panel with an illuminated device extending into the margin, the reverse with 13 lines of text, 'waqf' inscribed in the upper margin, illuminated khamsa and 'ashr marginal verse markers
45.2 by 33.5cm.
This folio comes from a large Mamluk Qur'an related in style and calligraphy to several examples of the 1330s, in particular a manuscript in the National Library, Cairo, dated 1331, another in the National Library, Cairo, dated 1334, one in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, datable to 1332-36, and one in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran, dated 1338-9 (D. James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, London, 1988, cats.15, 17,18, 20).
Another folio from the same Qur'an is in the Aga Khan Museum Collection and was exhibited in the exhibition Spirit and Life, Masterpieces of Islamic Art from the Aga Khan Museum Collection, Parma and London, March-August 2007. It is illustrated in the accompanying catalogue, no.8. Two further leaves from the same manuscript sold in these rooms, 9 April 2014, lot 21; 6 April 2011 as part of the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Part One, lot 16.