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Lot Essay
This important Qur'an juz, is from a luxurious manuscript copied by the most famous Mamluk scribe of the early 14th century. David James convincingly attributes the manuscript to the calligrapher Ibn al-Wahid and the illumination to the artist with whom he frequently worked, Sandal. As such it is part of only the second known example of a Qur'an in the hand of the famous scribe, probably copied between 1306 and 1311, the year of his death.
Sharaf al-Din Muhammad ibn Sharaf ibn Yusuf al-Katib al-Zar'i al-Misri, known as "Ibn al-Wahid" (d.1311), was one of the foremost calligraphers of the first part of the 14th century. Born in Damascus in 1249-50, he travelled to Baalbek and then on to Baghdad, where he became the student of the famous Yaqut al-Musta'simi. He later moved to Cairo where he became the katib al-shari'ah in the Mosque of al-Hakim. He soon entered the service of Baybars, copying for him a Qur'an illuminated by Sandal, which contemporaneous sources describe as being one of the most wonderful works of art seen in Cairo (it is tempting to suggest that this is the Baybars Qur'an now in the British Library, Add.22406-13; David James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, London, 1988, cat.1, pp.35 and 220). He was said to be both a wonderful linguist and a poet. A lyrical rhyming inscription beneath our juz' heading gives a small window into this aspect of his talent. It reads, ...kataba hatha al-khat shakhs gharib wa amrahu fi amr 'ajib yatlub..., loosely translated 'this script was written by an extraordinary person whose concern in is an unusual matter that demands'. His moral character is said to have been suspect, amongst others his own brother 'Ala al-Din spoke ill of him. However his skill as a calligrapher was such that unbound, non-illuminated Qur'ans copied by him would sell for 1,000 dinars.
Although Ibn al-Wahid led a long life, the British Library Baybars Qur'an is his only indubitable work to survive. In that Qur'an Ibn al-Wahid uses a distinctive large gold script, outlined in black, which Mamluk chroniclers describe as ash'ar (Sheila Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh, 2006, p. 349). Midway between thuluth and muhaqqaq, James suggests that the name ash'ar might refer to hair-line strokes around the letters, since is it the plural of sha'rah or 'a hair' (James, op.cit., 1988, p.38). In the Baybars Qur'an, this unusual script - which is found also in our sura headings - is used to copy the entire Qur'an. The main text of our Qur'an uses a different, but equally unusual script for a Qur'an. This is usually referred to as tumar or the script of the chancellery (literally, 'scroll'). Ibn al-Wahid's choice of these two uncommon scripts for the writing of Qur'ans is notable. Muhaqqaq was the commonest script employed in the production of royal Qur'ans in Baghdad and Mosul, and soon also became that associated with those of the Mamluks. However the earliest dated Mamluk Qur'an copied in muhaqqaq is not found until 1320. James suggests also that there may not have existed Ilkhanid royal Qur'ans in Egypt at the time and so there was no long-standing tradition of Qur'ans of this type under the Mamluks. There may therefore not have been a particular script that was automatically used.
The illumination of the British Library Baybars Qur'an was completed by three artists, but the man who oversaw the task was Abu Bakr, known as Sandal ('Sandalwood'). Probably a eunuch, he clearly occupied a senior position and is mentioned in sources such as the Wafi bi'l Wafayat of al-Safadi. Another section of our Qur'an is in the Chester Beatty Library (1437a-c, 1440, David James, Qur'ans and Bindings from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1980, no.24, p.40). In James' discussion of that section, he mentions that the only illumination known in the Qur'an are in the marginal ornaments, which are identical to those of the Baybars Qur'an. The juz' offered here is therefore particularly important in that it introduces a new aspect of the illumination on this manuscript. It retains a juz' heading page which uses similar tumar script to that described above reserved against a ground of thin red hatching and elegant black-outlined scrolls. This is exactly the same illumination as is found on the Baybars Qur'an (see for instance the colophon page which is published in James, op.cit., 1988, fig.15, p.35), as well as on a Qur'an in the Keir Collection which is attributed to the circle of Sandal and dated to circa 1330 (B.W. Robinson et.al., Islamic Painting and the Arts of the Book, London, 1976, no.VII.9, pp.288-89). In all three Qur'ans the red hatching does not reach the edge of the panel, but leaves a white band around it, something that James describes as typical of Sandal. This adds weight to James' attribution of the illumination of our manuscript to the famous artist.
Other sections of our Qur'an is in the Kunstbibliothek der Staatlichen Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Berlin (KB 31.559) and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (26.11, https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/leaf-of-a-qur-an-16917).
Sharaf al-Din Muhammad ibn Sharaf ibn Yusuf al-Katib al-Zar'i al-Misri, known as "Ibn al-Wahid" (d.1311), was one of the foremost calligraphers of the first part of the 14th century. Born in Damascus in 1249-50, he travelled to Baalbek and then on to Baghdad, where he became the student of the famous Yaqut al-Musta'simi. He later moved to Cairo where he became the katib al-shari'ah in the Mosque of al-Hakim. He soon entered the service of Baybars, copying for him a Qur'an illuminated by Sandal, which contemporaneous sources describe as being one of the most wonderful works of art seen in Cairo (it is tempting to suggest that this is the Baybars Qur'an now in the British Library, Add.22406-13; David James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, London, 1988, cat.1, pp.35 and 220). He was said to be both a wonderful linguist and a poet. A lyrical rhyming inscription beneath our juz' heading gives a small window into this aspect of his talent. It reads, ...kataba hatha al-khat shakhs gharib wa amrahu fi amr 'ajib yatlub..., loosely translated 'this script was written by an extraordinary person whose concern in is an unusual matter that demands'. His moral character is said to have been suspect, amongst others his own brother 'Ala al-Din spoke ill of him. However his skill as a calligrapher was such that unbound, non-illuminated Qur'ans copied by him would sell for 1,000 dinars.
Although Ibn al-Wahid led a long life, the British Library Baybars Qur'an is his only indubitable work to survive. In that Qur'an Ibn al-Wahid uses a distinctive large gold script, outlined in black, which Mamluk chroniclers describe as ash'ar (Sheila Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh, 2006, p. 349). Midway between thuluth and muhaqqaq, James suggests that the name ash'ar might refer to hair-line strokes around the letters, since is it the plural of sha'rah or 'a hair' (James, op.cit., 1988, p.38). In the Baybars Qur'an, this unusual script - which is found also in our sura headings - is used to copy the entire Qur'an. The main text of our Qur'an uses a different, but equally unusual script for a Qur'an. This is usually referred to as tumar or the script of the chancellery (literally, 'scroll'). Ibn al-Wahid's choice of these two uncommon scripts for the writing of Qur'ans is notable. Muhaqqaq was the commonest script employed in the production of royal Qur'ans in Baghdad and Mosul, and soon also became that associated with those of the Mamluks. However the earliest dated Mamluk Qur'an copied in muhaqqaq is not found until 1320. James suggests also that there may not have existed Ilkhanid royal Qur'ans in Egypt at the time and so there was no long-standing tradition of Qur'ans of this type under the Mamluks. There may therefore not have been a particular script that was automatically used.
The illumination of the British Library Baybars Qur'an was completed by three artists, but the man who oversaw the task was Abu Bakr, known as Sandal ('Sandalwood'). Probably a eunuch, he clearly occupied a senior position and is mentioned in sources such as the Wafi bi'l Wafayat of al-Safadi. Another section of our Qur'an is in the Chester Beatty Library (1437a-c, 1440, David James, Qur'ans and Bindings from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1980, no.24, p.40). In James' discussion of that section, he mentions that the only illumination known in the Qur'an are in the marginal ornaments, which are identical to those of the Baybars Qur'an. The juz' offered here is therefore particularly important in that it introduces a new aspect of the illumination on this manuscript. It retains a juz' heading page which uses similar tumar script to that described above reserved against a ground of thin red hatching and elegant black-outlined scrolls. This is exactly the same illumination as is found on the Baybars Qur'an (see for instance the colophon page which is published in James, op.cit., 1988, fig.15, p.35), as well as on a Qur'an in the Keir Collection which is attributed to the circle of Sandal and dated to circa 1330 (B.W. Robinson et.al., Islamic Painting and the Arts of the Book, London, 1976, no.VII.9, pp.288-89). In all three Qur'ans the red hatching does not reach the edge of the panel, but leaves a white band around it, something that James describes as typical of Sandal. This adds weight to James' attribution of the illumination of our manuscript to the famous artist.
Other sections of our Qur'an is in the Kunstbibliothek der Staatlichen Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Berlin (KB 31.559) and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (26.11, https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/leaf-of-a-qur-an-16917).