Lot Essay
This leaf has been carbon dated at Oxford. The result shows a 68 probability of a date between 640 and 765AD, and a 95 probability of a date between 595 and 855AD.
The early date for this qur'an leaf is attested by the complete absence of any diacritical or vocalisation marks, together with the absence of gold in the single illuminated small panel. Other comparable pages, although of smaller size, were discovered in San'a', Yemen, and are published in the exhibition catalogue Masahif San'a'. The extraordinary size of this folio is unparallelled in publications in the West. However, a part of a qur'an of comparable scale is preserved in the State Library in Tashkent
Masahif San'a', exhibition catalogue, Kuwait 1985
The early date for this qur'an leaf is attested by the complete absence of any diacritical or vocalisation marks, together with the absence of gold in the single illuminated small panel. Other comparable pages, although of smaller size, were discovered in San'a', Yemen, and are published in the exhibition catalogue Masahif San'a'. The extraordinary size of this folio is unparallelled in publications in the West. However, a part of a qur'an of comparable scale is preserved in the State Library in Tashkent
Masahif San'a', exhibition catalogue, Kuwait 1985