SIGNED GHULAM `ALI AL-ISFAHANI, QAJAR IRAN, DATED 16 DHU'L-HIJJA AH 1251/3 APRIL 1836 AD

Details

A MINIATURE QUR'AN
SIGNED GHULAM 'ALI AL-ISFAHANI, QAJAR IRAN, DATED 16 DHU'L-HIJJA AH 1251/3 APRIL 1836 AD
Arabic manuscript on paper, 169ff. plus three fly-leaves, each folio with 23ll. of fine black naskh within text panels bordered by gold strapwork, fine illuminated headings and marginal roundels, double page opening illumination, colophon signed and dated, in original lacquer binding with floral medallion on gold scrolling ground between inscription borders also signed and dated by Ghulam 'Ali al-Isfahani
Text panel 4 3/8 x 2¼in. (11 x 5.8cm.); folio 3½ x 5½in. (8.8 x 14.3cm.)

Engraved

On the binding, A Prophetic hadith on the virtue of reading the Qur'an followed by katabahu ghulam-'ali al-isfahani fi sana 1252, 'Ghulam 'Ali al-Isfahani wrote it in the year AH 1252 [1836-37 AD]'

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Lot Essay

Ghulam 'Ali al-Isfahani (ca. AH 1205-1269/1790-1852 AD), who signed both our Qur'an and its binding, was born in Isfahan and was instructed in calligraphy by Aqa Mahmud. He had a reputation for being able to copy the Qur'an very quickly, and Fath 'Ali Shah is said to have commissioned a copy by him which he then dedicated to the shrine of 'Ali in Najaf. Among the Qur'ans known by him is one in the Gulestan Palace Library, made for Aqa Mirza in Shawwal AH 1247/March-April 1832 AD (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va asar-e khushnevisan, Tehran, 1352, pp.1127-28).

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