Lot 127
127
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A LARGE QUR'AN

SAFAVID SHIRAZ, IRAN, 16TH CENTURY

Details
A LARGE QUR'AN
SAFAVID SHIRAZ, IRAN, 16TH CENTURY
Arabic manuscript on gold speckled paper, 341ff. plus 5 fly-leaves, each folio with 12ll. of elegant black naskh, text panels outlined in gold and polychrome and laid down on wide margins, gold and polychrome roundel verse markers, sura headings in white within gold and polychrome illuminated panels, almost every folio with large gold and polychrome marginal medallions, gold naskh hizb, sajda, juz' and nisf markers in the margins, some folios with notes running along the sides of the text panels in smaller naskh, opening two bifolia with dense gold and polychrome floral illumination surrounding lines of white thuluth, the next folio with similar illuminated headpiece preceding sura al-baqara, one similarly illuminated bifolio within the text, final bifolio of the Qur'an also heavily illuminated, the final line with added signature of 'Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni', folio thereafter similarly illuminated, lacking final folio, waterstaining, in original brown morocco with flap decorated with elaborate stamped and gilt decoration of central medallion on a ground of Chinese clouds and floral scrolls, the doublures with gold découpé decoration on polychrome ground, the borders with gilt and stamped Qur'anic inscription
Text panel 8 7/8 x 5¼in. (22.4 x 13.5cm.); Folio 6 1/8 x 10¼in. (41.2 x 26.1cm.)
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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Lot Essay

The colophon of this manuscript has a later attribution to 'Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni. He is recorded by Qadi Ahmad as one of the four famous scribes of Shiraz (V. Minorsky (trans.), A Treatise by Qadi Ahmad son of Mir-Munshi, Calligraphers and Painters, 1959, p. 67). For another work by him see David James, After Timur, The Nasser D. Collection of Islamic Art, 1992, cat. no. 47). There are over 17 recorded manuscripts by him, many in Indian and Ottoman libraries though none are dated.

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