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Lot Essay
Muhaqqaq, as found here, was the most frequently encountered script in the series of Qur’ans produced in increasing grandeur for the Mamluk rulers and their courtiers in the fourteenth century. The script owes much to the Baghdad school and the pupils there who learned at the feet of the master Yaqut al-Musta`simi. Mainly as a result of the political upheavals in Baghdad in the first half of the 14th century, a number of Ya`qut’s pupils came to Mamluk Cairo. Among them were Muhammad ibn al-Wahid, (Blair, 2006, p.346), Mubarak Shah al-Suyufi, noted on some lists as being one of the sittah, the most famous pupils of Yaqut, (James, 1988, pp.150-152), and possibly also Mubarak Shah ibn `Abdullah, whose style was very close indeed to that of another of the sittah, Ahmad al-Suhrawardi (James, 1988, pp.153-155). As James clearly establishes, these calligraphers helped change the course of Qur’an production under the Mamluks, resulting in the glorious productions of the reign of Sultan Sha`ban (1363-76).
The muhaqqaq in the present volume is very much in the Baghdad tradition. While tighter, more urgently pressing forward than the script of Mubarak Shah ibn `Abdullah and Ahmad al-Suhrawardi, (Bastan, 1375 sh, pp.56-59) it is close to the muhaqqaq of Arghun al-Kamili, the Mamluk scribe Ahmad al-Mutatabbib (Blair, 2006, fig.8.1, p.320) and that of a number of unsigned magnificent Mamluk Qur’ans (Istanbul, 2010, pp.260-261). The strength of script, and the way it pushes forwards, are very suited to the scale on which it is written in these magnificent Mamluk volume.
But it is also in its illumination that this particular volume shows the strengths of its links to Baghdad. The designs clearly relate to those of the grandest Qur’ans made for Sultan Sha`ban in the third quarter of the 14th century. Much more than in most Mamluk Qur’ans, but in common with the Sha`ban Qur’ans, the panels at the end of sura headings play with the geometric forms, enjoying the unusual shapes that result from the intersections (TIEM 226, opening bifolium). This is a feature that is seen in the work of Arghun al-Kamili’s favourite illuminator, Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Din al-Naqqash (Washington DC, 2016, pp.216-217). Even more telling is the blue petalled surround of many of the palmettes that extrude into the margin from the sura headings. These share their form and colouring with the marginal palmettes in a dispersed Qur’an also attributed to Arghun al-Kamili (Roxburgh, 2007, fig.19, pp.44-45; James, 1998, fig.113, p.166). The panels formed of overlapping blue circles filled with spiralling tendrils, here typically used as vertical marginal markers, and in the great Qur’an commissioned for Arghun Shah al-Ashrafi, now in Cairo, used in the upper and lower panels of the opening illumination, are another feature that derives from 13th century Baghdad (Lings and Safadi, 1976, p.56 no.80.and col.pl.XIII).
The closest similarities of all in terms of the illumination to the present manuscript are to be found in a Mamluk Qur’an originally in thirty volumes, six of which are known. Two are in the Chester Beatty Library, one in the British Library, while three have been sold at Sotheby’s (BL, Or.848; CBL 1464 and 1465; Lings, 1976, pls.36-40 and p.78; James, 1988, cat.35, pp.212-214 and 233; Sotheby’s, 8 April 1975, lot 200; 5 July 1982, lot 112, and 25 April 2018, lot 11). While the volumes were given as waqf by Sultan Faraj ibn Barquq (r. AH 801-815/1399-1411 AD), the style is from an earlier period and James attributes them to c.1370-75 AD. Many features are in common between those volumes and the present one. Similar palmettes to those noted above surrounded by blue petals are found in the illumination throughout. The kufic in the illuminated headings is also very close indeed, with its extreme variation of the thickness of the strokes. The sajda marginal panels, rectangular in form with an upper gable, the word itself written in kufic with a sail-like letter jim are almost identical; only the colours are reversed (Lings, 1976, pl.39). The other marginal decorations are similar, not quite as close, but appropriate for the substantial change in scale between the separate juz’ and the present complete mushaf. James confidently attributes the illumination of the ajza' to Ibrahim al-Amidi, dating them to c.1370-75 (James, 1988, p.212-214.) We have already noted the play with interlocking circles used by our illuminator; James describes these as typical of the work of al-Amidi. The decoration of the present Qur’an can therefore with confidence be attributed to the same master of the art of illumination.
The muhaqqaq in the present volume is very much in the Baghdad tradition. While tighter, more urgently pressing forward than the script of Mubarak Shah ibn `Abdullah and Ahmad al-Suhrawardi, (Bastan, 1375 sh, pp.56-59) it is close to the muhaqqaq of Arghun al-Kamili, the Mamluk scribe Ahmad al-Mutatabbib (Blair, 2006, fig.8.1, p.320) and that of a number of unsigned magnificent Mamluk Qur’ans (Istanbul, 2010, pp.260-261). The strength of script, and the way it pushes forwards, are very suited to the scale on which it is written in these magnificent Mamluk volume.
But it is also in its illumination that this particular volume shows the strengths of its links to Baghdad. The designs clearly relate to those of the grandest Qur’ans made for Sultan Sha`ban in the third quarter of the 14th century. Much more than in most Mamluk Qur’ans, but in common with the Sha`ban Qur’ans, the panels at the end of sura headings play with the geometric forms, enjoying the unusual shapes that result from the intersections (TIEM 226, opening bifolium). This is a feature that is seen in the work of Arghun al-Kamili’s favourite illuminator, Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Din al-Naqqash (Washington DC, 2016, pp.216-217). Even more telling is the blue petalled surround of many of the palmettes that extrude into the margin from the sura headings. These share their form and colouring with the marginal palmettes in a dispersed Qur’an also attributed to Arghun al-Kamili (Roxburgh, 2007, fig.19, pp.44-45; James, 1998, fig.113, p.166). The panels formed of overlapping blue circles filled with spiralling tendrils, here typically used as vertical marginal markers, and in the great Qur’an commissioned for Arghun Shah al-Ashrafi, now in Cairo, used in the upper and lower panels of the opening illumination, are another feature that derives from 13th century Baghdad (Lings and Safadi, 1976, p.56 no.80.and col.pl.XIII).
The closest similarities of all in terms of the illumination to the present manuscript are to be found in a Mamluk Qur’an originally in thirty volumes, six of which are known. Two are in the Chester Beatty Library, one in the British Library, while three have been sold at Sotheby’s (BL, Or.848; CBL 1464 and 1465; Lings, 1976, pls.36-40 and p.78; James, 1988, cat.35, pp.212-214 and 233; Sotheby’s, 8 April 1975, lot 200; 5 July 1982, lot 112, and 25 April 2018, lot 11). While the volumes were given as waqf by Sultan Faraj ibn Barquq (r. AH 801-815/1399-1411 AD), the style is from an earlier period and James attributes them to c.1370-75 AD. Many features are in common between those volumes and the present one. Similar palmettes to those noted above surrounded by blue petals are found in the illumination throughout. The kufic in the illuminated headings is also very close indeed, with its extreme variation of the thickness of the strokes. The sajda marginal panels, rectangular in form with an upper gable, the word itself written in kufic with a sail-like letter jim are almost identical; only the colours are reversed (Lings, 1976, pl.39). The other marginal decorations are similar, not quite as close, but appropriate for the substantial change in scale between the separate juz’ and the present complete mushaf. James confidently attributes the illumination of the ajza' to Ibrahim al-Amidi, dating them to c.1370-75 (James, 1988, p.212-214.) We have already noted the play with interlocking circles used by our illuminator; James describes these as typical of the work of al-Amidi. The decoration of the present Qur’an can therefore with confidence be attributed to the same master of the art of illumination.