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Lot Essay
This very fine manuscript is an example of 16th century Shirazi illumination and book binding at it's best. The fine binding with its cusped medallions decorated all over with stylised cloudbands is almost identical to the binding of a Qur’an in the Khalili Collection dated AH 959/1552-53 AD, which David James describes as ‘one of the finest Safavid Qur’ans of the 16th century’ (David James, After Timur, The Nasser D. Collection of Islamic Art, 1992, cat. no.43, pp.172-81). The Khalili binding, like the binding on our manuscript, has polychrome highlights on small rosettes. The doublures are very closely related to those found on a Qur’an manuscript in the Turk ve Islami Muzesi in Istanbul which attributed to Shiraz and dated AH 956/1549-50 AD (inv.TIEM 512; 1400 Yilinda Kur'an-i Kerim, exhibition catalogue, Istanbul, 2010, kat.79, p.316).
The falnama at the end of this Qur’an, with its bright colours and extensive illumination, is a typical feature of 16th century Safavid Qur’ans. The outline of the illumination and the use of coloured pigments is paralleled in a slightly later Qur’an signed by Nizam al-din Mahmud and dated AH 975/1567-8 AD in the Chester Beatty Library (David James, Qur'ans and Bindings from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1980, no.65, p.84). The shamsa at the beginning of our manuscript particularly with the fine scrolling gold arabesque on blue ground is similar to one found in a Qur’an manuscript in the Ghassan I. Shaker Collection which Nabil Safwat attributes to Shiraz, circa 1525-50 (Nabil F. Safwat, Golden Pages, Oxford, 2000, no.9, p.64). The combination of the illumination of the shamsa and the falnama on our Qur’an suggests that it dates to around 1550 AD.
The falnama at the end of this Qur’an, with its bright colours and extensive illumination, is a typical feature of 16th century Safavid Qur’ans. The outline of the illumination and the use of coloured pigments is paralleled in a slightly later Qur’an signed by Nizam al-din Mahmud and dated AH 975/1567-8 AD in the Chester Beatty Library (David James, Qur'ans and Bindings from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1980, no.65, p.84). The shamsa at the beginning of our manuscript particularly with the fine scrolling gold arabesque on blue ground is similar to one found in a Qur’an manuscript in the Ghassan I. Shaker Collection which Nabil Safwat attributes to Shiraz, circa 1525-50 (Nabil F. Safwat, Golden Pages, Oxford, 2000, no.9, p.64). The combination of the illumination of the shamsa and the falnama on our Qur’an suggests that it dates to around 1550 AD.