.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Muhammad 'Ali bin Muhammad Sadiq al-Isfahani was a leading early Qajar calligrapher. Known for his fine naskh, surviving manuscripts copied by him, including Qur'ans and other religious books are dated between 1778-89 and 1819-20 (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va athar-e khosh-nevisan, vol.4, Tehran, 1358 sh., pp.177-8).
The colophon of this Qur'an states that it is the 115th copy completed by the calligrapher. Remarkably, he had gone 10 years without copying a Qur'an, as his 114th copy is dated 10 years earlier, AH 1215⁄1800-01 AD, recorded as being in the collection of Khanom Azar Mahdavi (Bayani, op.cit.). He then went on to copy 15 Qur'ans in less than a decade, with his 130th copy, dated AH 1233⁄1818 AD, being sold in these Rooms, 20 October 2016, lot 74. A further copy dated 1803-4 was sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2003, lot 16. Two other Qur'ans by the scribe, dated AH 1192⁄1778-79 AD and AH 1216⁄1801-02 AD, are in the Gulistan Palace Library, Tehran.
The colophon of this Qur'an states that it is the 115th copy completed by the calligrapher. Remarkably, he had gone 10 years without copying a Qur'an, as his 114th copy is dated 10 years earlier, AH 1215⁄1800-01 AD, recorded as being in the collection of Khanom Azar Mahdavi (Bayani, op.cit.). He then went on to copy 15 Qur'ans in less than a decade, with his 130th copy, dated AH 1233⁄1818 AD, being sold in these Rooms, 20 October 2016, lot 74. A further copy dated 1803-4 was sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2003, lot 16. Two other Qur'ans by the scribe, dated AH 1192⁄1778-79 AD and AH 1216⁄1801-02 AD, are in the Gulistan Palace Library, Tehran.