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Lot Essay
In most regards, this manuscript's illumination is typical of Qur'ans produced in 16th century Shiraz. The opening bifolio contains impressive illuminated shamsas comprising mirrored S-shaped motifs, similar to an illuminated page in the Keir Collection, now in the Dallas Museum of Art (acc.no.K.1.2104.806.4).The use of alternating pale and bright gold pigments in similar motifs can be seen on the illumination of a Qur'an in the Khalili Collection dated to AH 959 / 1552 AD (David James, After Timur, Oxford, 1992, p.44). The following bifolio has an even more intricate illumination, including areas of bright red and turquoise pigment in the margins: the same pigments appear on another Qur'an in the Khalili collection in the headpiece above sura al-baqara' (James, op.cit., no.40, p.161). Though the shamsa on the page is somewhat unusual, in its form it is reminiscent of the medallion at the heart of the Ardabil carpet, further indicating a Safavid origin.
Although the decorative features of this manuscript point strongly to a Safavid origin, a manuscript in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, raises the possibility of an Indian production. The close connections between Golconda and Iran at this period were taken advantage of by the scribe Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni al-Shirazi, who travelled to Golconda in the final decades of the 16th century. The Kuwait manuscript (acc.no. LNS 227 MS) has a frontispiece very similar to ours, with the opening shamsa also on a turquoise field with calligraphic cartouches above and below. It can be confidently associated with a Deccani context thanks to the divisions of the text, the illuminated margins around sura al-baqara', and the manuscript's documented history in a Hyderabad collection (Navina Najat Haidar and Marika Sardar, Sultans of Deccan India 1500-1700: opulence and fantasy. New York, 2015, p.205). Both our manuscripts also have a distinctive system of division, with a marginal ayn occasionally used to mark every tenth verse. Moreover, the gold floral sprays which appear in the margins of every folio of our manuscript also point to an Indian origin in spite of the very Shirazi style of the illumination
A Qur'an with a very closely comparable illumination and a very similar frontispiece was sold in these Rooms, 12 October 2004, lot 35, and again 25 October 2018, lot 109.
Although the decorative features of this manuscript point strongly to a Safavid origin, a manuscript in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, raises the possibility of an Indian production. The close connections between Golconda and Iran at this period were taken advantage of by the scribe Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni al-Shirazi, who travelled to Golconda in the final decades of the 16th century. The Kuwait manuscript (acc.no. LNS 227 MS) has a frontispiece very similar to ours, with the opening shamsa also on a turquoise field with calligraphic cartouches above and below. It can be confidently associated with a Deccani context thanks to the divisions of the text, the illuminated margins around sura al-baqara', and the manuscript's documented history in a Hyderabad collection (Navina Najat Haidar and Marika Sardar, Sultans of Deccan India 1500-1700: opulence and fantasy. New York, 2015, p.205). Both our manuscripts also have a distinctive system of division, with a marginal ayn occasionally used to mark every tenth verse. Moreover, the gold floral sprays which appear in the margins of every folio of our manuscript also point to an Indian origin in spite of the very Shirazi style of the illumination
A Qur'an with a very closely comparable illumination and a very similar frontispiece was sold in these Rooms, 12 October 2004, lot 35, and again 25 October 2018, lot 109.