Lot 70
70
A RARE ILKHANID QUR'AN JUZ'
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A RARE ILKHANID QUR'AN JUZ'

IRAN, FIRST HALF 14TH CENTURY

Details
A RARE ILKHANID QUR'AN JUZ'
IRAN, FIRST HALF 14TH CENTURY
Comprising the 13th juz', Arabic manuscript on paper, 42ff., each folio with 5ll. of black muhaqqaq within text panels outlined in red and purple, gold and polychrome rosette verse roundels, large gold and polychrome marginal khams and 'ashr markers, sura headings in white muhaqqaq outlined in gold on a ground of gold scrolling vine with polychrome background, the opening bifolio with a single line of large muhaqqaq in white cloud reserved against a gold hatched and arabesque ground flanked by gold and polychrome headings with large lotuses, the margins with gold and polychrome floral roundels, minor area of loss to the final folio
Text panel 10¼ x 7¼in. (26 x 18.2cm.); folio 15½ x 10 7/8in. (39.4 x 27.5cm.)
Provenance
Collection Xavier Guerrand-Hermès, sold Sotheby's Paris, 18 November 2013, lot 138
Special notice
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Lot Essay

Another Ilkhanid Qur’an juz’ with a similar illuminated headings was sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2011, lot 95. Our manuscript is unusual for the single large line of text which runs through the text panel on the opening illuminated bifolio. A slightly earlier related juz in the Khalili Collection attributed to North West Iran, circa 1175-1225, has similar strapwork borders around the opening text panel as can be seen on either side of the text on our opening bifolio (David James, The Master Scribes, London, 1992, no.5, pp.34-37). David James associates the format and presence of the strapwork borders with manuscript production in the later Ilkhanid period.

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