Lot Essay
Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani was a Maliki scholar from Qairouan. He is well known for his Risala, a manual on Maliki law and for his abridged version (Mukhtasar) of Sahnun's Mudawwana of which the present manuscript is one of the chapters (on commerce). Ibn Abi Zayd died in Qairouan in 996 AD and this manuscript, written in early cursive script whilst using bold kufic script for the title page, is therefore an early copy of the text. For a 10th or 11th century copy of Sahnun's Mudawwana also dated to the 10th or 11th century, see lot 237 in this sale.