Manuscript of the Qur’an with leather binding
c. 1480-1500
Description
This Qur'an manuscript opens with double illuminated pages containing the first sura written in white ink within facing medallions. The remaining text is copied in eleven lines per page with the top, middle, and bottom lines written in muhaqqaq script in blue and gold, and the rest in naskh in black ink. Chapter headings are marked as illuminated panels throughout the text. Verses are separated with gold rosettes. The text ends with a finishing prayer written in muhaqqaq only alternating in blue and gold. The paper appears dirty towards the end and there are several repairs in the text area. The leather binding in dark brown was originally fully decorated with gold and floral decoration stamped in relief on the outside (now inside after repairs). The field is arranged with a lobed medallion in the center and framed with cartouches along the edge. It is heavily damaged and also repaired. The flap is not preserved. The doublures, which are damaged, preserve the center and four corner pieces which were most likely filigree are raised over the field and placed inside a decorated band. There is a note in Persian on a flyleaf providing the hijri date 1197 AH (1783 CE), possibly written by a manuscript repair or binder. He expresses apologies for his delay in finishing repair and returnign the manuscript to its owner, Mulana Muhammad Muhsin, before he had passed away.
Dimensions
21.5 x 16 cm (8 1/4 x 5 7/8 in.)
Provenance
Ezzat-Malek Soudavar, Geneva, Switzerland (by 2014), by descent; to her son Abolala Soudavar, Houston, Texas (2014), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2014. Note: Ezzat-Malek Soudavar (1913-2014) formed this collection over a period of sixty years. She purchased the works of art on the international art market.
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