A finely illuminated Qur'an, signed by Jalal ibn Muhammad Bakalinjar al-Daylami, Shiraz, Persia, Safavid, mid-16th century

Private collection, UK, since 1960s

This exquisite Qur’an is illuminated with breathtaking skill. Its refined and varied illumination shares many features also found on the remarkable Chester Beatty ‘Ruzbihan Qur’an,’ (inv. no.CBL Is 1558) so much so that they must share a common workshop.

In her extensive study of the Chester Beatty ‘Ruzbihan Qur’an’, Elaine Wright notes that there are at least two Ruzbihans recorded in the colophons and signed illuminations of surviving manuscripts. The first is Ruzbihan Muhammad al-Tab'i al-Shirazi, a scribe whose name figures in the colophons of seven manuscripts (five of which are Qur’ans, including the Chester Beatty ‘Ruzbihan Qur’an’). The second is Ruzbihan ibn Na’im al-Din al-Katib al-Mudhahhib, an illuminator whose signature is found within the illumination of eight manuscripts, sometimes simply as ‘Ruzbihan’ (see Wright 2018, appendix 2 and 8 for a detailed listing).

The illumination of our manuscript is closely related to the Chester Beatty ‘Ruzbihan Qur’an’ which is signed by Ruzbihan Muhammad al-Tab'i al-Shirazi. The Chester Beatty manuscript is renowned for its overtly polychromatic decoration and is largely understood to represent the very height of Shirazi illumination. Given the variations in the illumination of that manuscript, Wright suggests that this work was the product of a team of illuminators, rather than an individual (ibid., p.6).

Shirazi Qur’ans tend to draw on a shared vocabulary of illumination, and it is not uncommon to see shared formats whether it be in surah headings, shamsas, or full page illuminated frontispieces. What sets the present manuscript apart is its outstanding and inventive execution and use of colour.

The cartouches within the surah heading are of particular note. Many of the surah headings of the present manuscript are enclosed within cartouches of a form derived from a cloud collar. Like the Chester Beatty manuscript, there are many variations within the group; compare, for example, the trefoil-like shoulder protrusions on the heading for surah Saba, with that of surah al-Nasr in the Chester Beatty Qur’an (Wright, op.cit., p.150, fig.132), or the comparatively more rounded lobed cartouche for surah al-Baqara with the Chester Beatty surah al-Mursalat (ibid., p.151, fig.136). Also notable is the prominent outline, often in orange or black, that delineates the frame. A similar frame in orange also traces the opening shamsa here as it does in the Chester Beatty ‘Ruzbihan Qur’an’.

The use of colour is also comparable. Wright notes a particularly fluorescent shade of orange, found frequently here in small lotuses that appear to glimmer against the gold and ultramarine lapis. The manuscript concludes with a polychromatic flurry of surah headings in lavender, cobalt, gold (sometimes washed with a translucent green pigments) and red. This organic red that figures in the surah heading for surah al-Kawthir is decorated with arabesques in white and black, a combination that can be seen in the finispiece of the ‘Ruzbihan Qur’an’ (Wright, op.cit., p.257).

Utmost care it taken at every stage in the production of this manuscript. The paper is gold-sprinkled over the neat black naskh, the gold grounds almost always pricked, often with cintimani motifs. This is true even of the blue-ground surah heading such as surah al-Ikhlas, where the illuminator has punched the ground with tiny indentations filled with gold (see also Wright 2018, p.237). The floral motifs and the lush arabesques are exquisitely rendered, as are the cloudbands which are unusually executed in the double page prayers where they loop back on themselves. Even under magnification these motifs lose none of their crispness and detail.

The format of the double page illuminated frontispiece with its geometric interlace is quite different from that of the Chester Beatty manuscript. The same format is found, however, in three of the five Qur’ans copied by Ruzbihan (Khalili Collection, inv. no.QUR111, James 1992, pp.146-7; one in the Astan-I Quds Library, Mashhad, inv. no.136), and another in a private collection, London (Wright 2018, appendix 2, no.6).

Finally, a reference should be made to a monumental Qur’an sold in these rooms, The Shakerine Collection, 23 October 2019, lot 19. Like our manuscript, the text was followed by a falnama signed by the same calligrapher as ours, Jalal Bakalinjar (or Bakalnajar, see Safwat 2010, pp.36-43), possibly responsible for solely the falnama rather than the entire text. The decorative scheme throughout shows a comparably rich array of colour in the finely drawn surah headings, as well as a Herati influence in the khams marginal medallions, which also figures here. Furthermore, the headpiece at the start of the Shakerine manuscript presents an upper frieze in which large trefoils form small reciprocal trefoils in the negative space, a feature seen throughout the entire frame of the double page illuminated prayers in the present lot.

All of these manuscripts are united in their exceptional illumination fitting of outstanding commissions. This is especially appropriate for the signed examples where the quality of illumination is on par with the high standing of their scribe. The script of this Qur’an is similarly finely executed and is gold sprinkled as in the Chester Beatty manuscript. Our manuscript bears the signature after the falnama Jalal ibn Muhammad Bakalinjar al-Daylami, though following the Shakerine manuscript above, it is possible he was only responsible for the falnama. It is likely that illuminators of this level would work only on the very best Qur’ans, leaving the possibility that this manuscript was also copied by Ruzbihan himself.