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Lot Essay
An Ottoman Turkish inscription on the first page states that this Qur'an was given as a waqf by an 'Ashur Agha to the Seferli Odasi - the vocational school in the Topkapi Palace, founded by Murad IV for the training of pages in various arts. The inscription also states that 'Ashur Agha was a iç oglan, 'palace page', and that he died from the plague just three days after he endowed the Qur'an. The note is dated Sha'ban AH 1047/December 1637-January 1638 AD.
The opening double-page illumination of three registers with the Qur'anic text in the middle and titles above and below within panels with borders of gold foliage over blue ground is very like the frontispiece of a 30 part Qur'an written for Turan Shah, probably in Shiraz, dated AH 777/1375-6 AD, (Martin Lings, The Qur'anic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, Westerham, 1976, no.60). The drop-shaped medallions protruding from each side of the border are similar to the double-page illumination of a manuscript with selections from the Qur'an copied by Ibrahim Sultan bin Shahrukh bin Timur, dated AH 827/1424 AD, in the Mashhad Shrine Library, 414. Similar features are seen in a different manuscript, also copied by Ibrahim Sultan, dated AH 834/1430-1 AD, in the Pars Museum, Shiraz, 430 MP. Both are illustrated in Lings, op.cit., nos.81 and 82 respectively.
The opening double-page illumination of three registers with the Qur'anic text in the middle and titles above and below within panels with borders of gold foliage over blue ground is very like the frontispiece of a 30 part Qur'an written for Turan Shah, probably in Shiraz, dated AH 777/1375-6 AD, (Martin Lings, The Qur'anic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, Westerham, 1976, no.60). The drop-shaped medallions protruding from each side of the border are similar to the double-page illumination of a manuscript with selections from the Qur'an copied by Ibrahim Sultan bin Shahrukh bin Timur, dated AH 827/1424 AD, in the Mashhad Shrine Library, 414. Similar features are seen in a different manuscript, also copied by Ibrahim Sultan, dated AH 834/1430-1 AD, in the Pars Museum, Shiraz, 430 MP. Both are illustrated in Lings, op.cit., nos.81 and 82 respectively.