A large illuminated Mamluk Qur’an, copied by Muhammad Abu al-Fadl ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-A’raj, Egypt or Syria, dated 882 AH/1477-78 AD

Ex-private Collection, France

Private Collection, UK, acquired in France circa 1970-1974

This impressive Qur’an was produced in the royal circles of fifteenth century Mamluk Egypt. It was copied by a prominent scribe who would go on to produce manuscripts for Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri and achieves maximum visual impact through its large size and striking illumination.

Muhammad Abu al-Fadl ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-A’raj was a copyist and scribe who trained under Yasin al-Jalali and went on to become the royal scribe to Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri (r.1501-16). Alison Ohta records nine manuscripts that can be ascribed to the calligrapher bearing dates between 879 AH/1474 AD and 921 AH/1515 AD, of which three are royal manuscripts bearing dedications to Qansuh al-Ghuri, all now housed in the Topkapi Palace Library, Istanbul (inv. nos.A.1952, A.1621 and A. 2798, see Ohta 2012, p.230, note 250). To these recorded works by the calligrapher can be added a manuscript of Al-Busiri’s Qasidat al-Burda, commissioned for Qansuh al-Ghuri, sold at Christie’s, London, 26 October 2017, lot 62, and a magnificent Qur’an commissioned by the Chief Justice of Jerusalem and Nablus sold in these rooms, 31 March 2021, lot 9.

The majority of Muhammad Abu al-Fadl ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-A’raj’s recorded manuscripts date to the period under the rule of Qansuh al-Ghuri, but he nonetheless produced manuscripts for illustrious patrons in the late fifteenth century. He copied a manuscript of al-Sahwaki’s Al-tibr al-masbuk fi dhayl al-suluk for Amir Yashbak min Mahdi in 880 AH/1475 AD (now in the Topkapi Palace Library, inv. no.K. 1008), and two years later, he copied the present Qur’an.

The scribe concludes the manuscript with a call on God to bless Muhammad and the Rightly-Guided caliphs, and prays for the support of Islam and the elevation of the word of belief through the longevity (baqa’) of the sultan. The titles of the sultan are given as al-sultan al-malik al-malik al-ashraf, who can be identified as Qaytbay. The fact that the manuscript bears his titles would suggest it was copied in royal circles, by a scribe who was already part of the royal scriptorium.

Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qaytbay (r.1468-96) is considered the greatest of the later Mamluk sultans, a ruler who harnessed artistic patronage as a powerful mechanism to construct his public image. Qaytbay enthusiastically commissioned numerous new religious foundations and commercial structures in major cities, and encouraged the revival of traditional decorative crafts to produce dazzling objects to furnish these structures. Notably, Qaytbay oversaw the extensive restoration of the holy sites of Mecca and Medina for which he also commissioned at least three monumental brass candlesticks, two of which are in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (inv. no.MIA4072), and the Benaki Museum, Athens (inv. no.13040), respectively, both exhibited at the first Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, in 2023.

Qaytbay also commissioned magnificent Qur’an manuscripts of impressive scale such as a Qur’an in the Maktabat al-Mushaf al-Sharif, King Abdulaziz Waqf Libraries Assembly, Medina (inv. no.5, exhibited at the Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, 2023), and a monumental Qur’an commissioned by the ruler and copied by Tanam al-Najmi sold at Christie’s, London, 2 May 2019, lot 11. For a sword bearing the name of Qaytbay and a discussion of his military legacy, see the following lot in the present sale.

This Qur’an shows a parallel development of illumination to the Timurids and Aqqoyunlu from Persia and Central Asia, see for example the frontispiece of a Qur’an juz’ dated 1483, sold in these rooms 23 October 2019, lot 121. The outer lapis frame of the illumination is drawn with a comparable interlaced arabesque frieze punctuated by lobed teardrop roundels enclosing flowers as shown on the present manuscript. However, the application there is much more fastidious, in contrast the relatively free drawing of the floral motifs we see here which bears similarities to the hurried execution of the illumination of the Qaytbay Qur’an copied by Tanam al-Najmi mentioned above. The impact here rather draws on a contrast between the lapis pigments and a liberal use of gold, tempered by the addition of a burnt orange-red. Where the pigments have rubbed naturally over time, the gold ground is further exposed. Coupled with its large size, the use of gold almost overpowers the drawing suggesting that the intention was to produce a dazzling manuscript with immediate visual impact. 

By the sixteenth century, probably following the fall of the Mamluks to the Ottomans in 1517, the manuscript entered Ottoman Turkey where it was adorned with a further frontispiece in the Ottoman style. The illumination here is less energetic than the rest of the manuscript, focused on carefully formed flowers and arabesques that show the prevailing taste for a Persian style of illumination under the Ottomans.