NORTH AFRICA, 16TH CENTURY

Details

A RELIGIOUS MANUSCRIPT IN THREE PARTS
NORTH AFRICA, 16TH CENTURY
Prayers and names of God, Arabic manuscript in three parts on thick cream and blue paper, 18ff. plus 6 fly-leaves, the first section with 21-28ll. of grey naskh with important words, phrases and triangles of dots picked out in red, the second section on blue paper with 10ll. of powerful gold maghribi, the opening bifolio of this section with a double page of illumination, the first with a rectangle filled with repeating I-shapes in panels, and the second with the same pattern surrounded by a series of mosque-lamps, both panels issuing roundels filled with arabesques, the third section, like the first, with 20-22ll. of grey naskh with important words and triangles of dots in red, the last three pages more cursorily drawn in large script, some areas of staining, and most folios with damages around the edges, with inserted eighteenth century Italian description of the text towards the end, in black morocco with gilt medallion and borders
Folio approx. 10 5/8 x 7 7/8in. (27 x 20cm.)

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Lot Essay

Similarities may be drawn, particularly in the maghribi script and the deep colour of the paper, between this folio and a Qur'an hizb in Rabat, Bibliothèque générale (Maroc les trésors du royaume, exhibition catalogue, 1999, no. 166, p. 122). That example was attributed to 15-16th century Morocco. Another example, also attributed to 15th century Morocco and also similar in the style of script and deep coloured folio, is in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Splendeur et Majesté, Paris, 1987, no. 14, p. 40). On the basis of the watermark however (a right hand issuing a six-petal flower), which traces the paper to early 16th century Germany or Poland, we can date the present example to the same period.

A translation of the 18th century Italian explanation inserted at the end of the manuscript is available on request.

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