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Lot Essay
This Qur'an bifolio appears to come from a Qur'an, of which a section is in the Bibliothèque Royale in Rabat (inv.12610, Maroc. Les trésors du royaume, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1999, no.139, p.101). There the Qur'an is attributed to the Caliph ‘Uthman bin Affan on the basis of a comparable example also attributed to him in the Topkapi (The 1400th Anniversary of the Qur'an, exhibition catalogue, Turkey, 2010, cat.16, pp.168-69). The Topkapi Qur'an was brought into the museum from the library of Sultan Mahmud I (r.1730-54) which was located in the Hagia Sophia in 1912. On the face of the manuscript's last page is the inscription "Caliph 'Uthman ibn Affan wrote in the 30th year", taken to mean that it was written by a scribe of the Caliph 'Uthman in the first half of the 1st century AH. Dr. Tayyar Altikulac revisited the Topkapi codex manuscript in 2006 and wrote that even if it had not belonged to 'Uthman it must have been copied from one that did (op.cit., p.17).
The scribe of this elegant Qur'an bifolio plays with the kufic, accentuating the horizontal letters in order to conform to the format of his text block. Red dots are used as vowel markers, a use that was abandoned after the 11th century, when dashes took over the role, and dots became diacritical marks.
Two folios from this same Qur’an were sold in these Rooms, 7 April 2011, lots 1 and 2.
The scribe of this elegant Qur'an bifolio plays with the kufic, accentuating the horizontal letters in order to conform to the format of his text block. Red dots are used as vowel markers, a use that was abandoned after the 11th century, when dashes took over the role, and dots became diacritical marks.
Two folios from this same Qur’an were sold in these Rooms, 7 April 2011, lots 1 and 2.