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Lot Essay
Though illumination based around blue and gold was a staple of Ottoman Qur'an illumination from the 15th century, around the year 1800 Constantinopolitan Qur'ans began to eschew that for a style of illumination that only used gold pigments (Tim Stanley, The Decorated Word, volume II, Oxford, 2009, p.161). Although the finesse of the illumination of this Qur'an suggests that it was produced in the capital, it is in a style that was being quickly supplanted in favour of the new fashion. The colour palette and conception of the design, with broad half-medallions running into either margin from the side of the text panel, and quarter-medallions at both the upper and lower edges, is similar to a Qur'an in the Khalili Collection, which Stanley identifies as probably the last Istanbul-made blue and gold Qur'an in that collection (Stanley, op.cit., p.192).
Also comparable to the frontispiece of our manuscript is one from a Qur'an dated to AH 1210 / 1795-6 AD which sold in these Rooms, 7 October 2008, lot 360. A similar layout, but executed completely in gold, can be seen on a manuscript produced only a few years later in AH 1216 / 1801 AD, indicating how quickly the vogue for all-gold illumination came in in Istanbul.
Also comparable to the frontispiece of our manuscript is one from a Qur'an dated to AH 1210 / 1795-6 AD which sold in these Rooms, 7 October 2008, lot 360. A similar layout, but executed completely in gold, can be seen on a manuscript produced only a few years later in AH 1216 / 1801 AD, indicating how quickly the vogue for all-gold illumination came in in Istanbul.