SIGNED IBRAHIM AL-HAJJ KNOWN AS BERBERZADE, OTTOMAN TURKEY, DATED AH 1192/1778-9 AD

Details

AN EXTENSIVELY ILLUSTRATED PRAYER BOOK: AN’AM SHARIF
SIGNED IBRAHIM AL-HAJJ KNOWN AS BERBERZADE, OTTOMAN TURKEY, DATED AH 1192/1778-9 AD
Arabic and Ottoman Turkish manuscript on cream paper, 199ff. plus four flyleaves, 11ll. of black naskh, gold and polychrome verse markers, red reading marks, catchwords, text within gold, black and blue rules, sura and prayer headings in red ink, four illuminated headings, some owner notes, 99 folios with illuminated hilyehs, diagrams and illustrations including Mecca and Medina, opening bifolio with gold and polychrome headpiece and text in clouds reserved against a gold ground, with colophon, signed and dated, with later owner notes, in Ottoman stamped and gilt black and brown morocco with central medallion, gold sprinkled paper doublures
Text panel 4 ¼ x 2 ½in. (10.8 x 6.3cm.); folio 6 x 4in. (15.4 x 10cm.)

Provenance

Private French collection, sold Olivier Doutrebente Auction House, Paris, 27 November 2015, lot 120

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Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

An impressive Qur’an that was in the possession of Sultan ‘Abdulhamid II records the full name of our calligrapher as al-Hajj Ibrahim al-Gihangiri, known as Berberzade (M. Ugur Derman, Ninety-nine Qur'an Manuscripts from Istanbul, Istanbul, 2010, pp. 270-273, no. 65). He has been described as a master of naskh, thuluth and riqa scripts (ibid.); this manuscript presents an extremely rare and well-preserved example of his work.

A comparable An’am Sharif by the same scribe with 95 illustrations and illuminations was sold in these Rooms, 2 May 2019, lot 177.

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