Lot Essay
See the following lot for a note on the Qur'an from which this folio comes.
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A Generous Donation
In April this year a hugely generous benefactor donated a very impressive group of Islamic and Indian works of art on paper to benefit Oxford University. Christie's was asked to handle the sale; we were delighted that almost every lot sold, and that the sale raised nearly 1,500,000 to benefit the Bodleian Library and the Oriental Institute. We are therefore particularly pleased to have been asked to handle a second instalment of the same donation whose proceeds will go towards exactly the same institutions at Oxford.
From its very inception manuscripts from the Islamic world have had their place in the Bodleian library. When it was set up in 1602 the collection already included a copy of the Qur'an in Arabic, and the same year that Qur'an was joined by a Persian manuscript. Today the Bodleian's holdings of Arabic manuscripts stand at some 2,350 whilst there are 2,530 Persian manuscripts which include scientific texts, poetry and illustrated manuscripts. The Persian illuminated and illustrated manuscripts are a highlight of the collection.
The present donation is made as the latest of a succession of generous gifts to the Bodleian Library, the most important in the United Kingdom for Persian Manuscripts after the British Library. The donation includes the most important group of Bukhara Paintings to come for auction in living memory, with a number of masterpieces by the leading artist working in the Shaybanid capital when it was at its artistic height, Mahmud Muzahhib. There is also a wonderful group of Indian miniatures from a number of different royal manuscripts dating from the early Mughal period. It is made with particular generosity since, rather than donating the works of art directly to the University of Oxford, the donor is using his collection to allow Oxford to achieve what they would like with the funds raised by their sale, with the agreed joint aim of furthering knowledge about and interest in Persian studies. Part of the money raised will go towards funding extra curatorial support for the Persian collections at the Bodleian Library, while further funds will go towards setting up a chair in Sassanian studies, the only such post in the United Kingdom.
It gives me particular pleasure that Christie's has been asked to handle these sales. In 1935 my father wrote his B.Litt thesis on the Persian Illustrated manuscripts at the Bodleian Library. This was substantially updated and published in 1958 as A Descriptive Catalogue of the Persian Paintings in the Bodleian Library, a book that is still the best reference on the subject. Both in my capacity working for Christie's and also very much in a personal capacity I am delighted that we at Christie's have been asked to help achieve this wonderful goal on behalf of the extraordinarily generous collector.
William Robinson
A GOLD KUFIC QUR'AN FOLIO
NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, 10TH CENTURY
Details
A GOLD KUFIC QUR'AN FOLIO
NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, 10TH CENTURY
Qur'an LXX, sura al-ma'arij, v.44 - Qur'an LXXI, sura nuh, beginning of v.4, Arabic manuscript on vellum, folio with 5ll. of gold kufic, diacritics indicated with brown diagonal dashes, vocalisation in red, green and blue, gold rosettes indicating single verses, one sura heading within panel of gold scrolls and issuing a bold palmette into the margin, slight damages to edges
Folio 5¾ x 7 7/8in. (14.5 x 20.2cm.)
NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, 10TH CENTURY
Qur'an LXX, sura al-ma'arij, v.44 - Qur'an LXXI, sura nuh, beginning of v.4, Arabic manuscript on vellum, folio with 5ll. of gold kufic, diacritics indicated with brown diagonal dashes, vocalisation in red, green and blue, gold rosettes indicating single verses, one sura heading within panel of gold scrolls and issuing a bold palmette into the margin, slight damages to edges
Folio 5¾ x 7 7/8in. (14.5 x 20.2cm.)
Brought to you by
Andrew Butler-Wheelhouse
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