NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, FIRST HALF 10TH CENTURY

Details

A KUFIC QUR'AN SECTION
NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, FIRST HALF 10TH CENTURY
Qur'an LVII, sura al-hadid, vv. 15-23, Arabic manuscript on vellum, 6ff. each with 3ll. of elegant sepia kufic, red, green and yellow dots marking vocalisation, sepia diagonal dashes marking letter pointing, the end of each verse marked with seven gold dots arranged in a pyramid, one folio with small gold illuminated medallion with the word khamsa in reserve in Eastern kufic, another with a similar large illuminated medallion with the word 'ashrun in reserve, some water staining, and small losses at the edges
Folio 9 1/8 x 12 7/8in. (23.3 x 32.5cm.) (6)

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Another folio from this elegant three-line Qur'an was sold in these Rooms, 8 April 2008, lot 19. Other leaves are in the al-Sabah collection (M. Jenkins ed., Islamic Art in the Kuwait National Museum, London 1983, p.19) and in the Nasser D. Khalili collection (François Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London, 1992, p.111). Déroche notes that the manuscript from which the folio comes is among the very few early Qur'ans written with three lines to the page, and that these were evidently sought after and very expensive since considerably more parchment and time was needed for their manufacture (Déroche, op. cit., p.109). Further folios and sections from this manuscript have sold in these Rooms, for example 17 April 2007, lot 10, 15 October 2002, lot 7 and 13 October 1998, lot 8 and 9.

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