HYDERABAD, DECCAN, CENTRAL INDIA, LATE 17TH CENTURY

Details

QUR'AN
HYDERABAD, DECCAN, CENTRAL INDIA, LATE 17TH CENTURY
Manuscript on buff paper, 577ff. plus 1 fly-leaf, each with 11ll. of controlled black naskh within gold margins, gold verse markers, catchwords, sura headings in gold, illuminated marginal juz' markers, opening gold and polychrome illuminated bifoliom, the following folio with text in cloud bands reserved against gold ground and gold and polychrome floral margins, 5 bifolios with similar text arrangement, floral margins and gold and polychrome headpieces within the text, some marginal notations towards the end, opening folio and colophon with later owner's stamp dated AH 1212, minimal holing in the margins of the last few pages, the contemporary lacquer binding and flap with central medallion and pendants against a gold ground with floral arabesques, lacquer slightly worn around the edges
Text panel 5 3/8 x 3in. (13.6 x 7.7cm.); folio 8¾ x 5 1/8in. (22.2 x 13cm.)

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Lot Essay

This manuscript contains the seal of Arastu Jah dated 1212 (AD1797-8). This is almost certainly the private seal of Nawwab A'zam al-Umara Arastu Jah, the renowned Prime Minister of the Asaf Jahi rulers of Hyderabad in the Deccan between 1778-95 (R. Alikhan, Hederabad, 400 years (1591-1991), Hederabad, p. 133). Arastu Jah died on 9th May 1804.

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