OTTOMAN, PROBABLY MEDINA, 19TH CENTURY

The illumination of this Qur’an belongs to the decorative repertoire of the Ottoman-Baroque-Rococo style, which blends distinctly European features into the Ottoman taste. After Ottoman Turkish ambassadors were dispatched to Paris and Vienna, changes were sparked in Ottoman artistic and architectural production. Seen to reflect to Ottoman's establishment of a modern and cosmopolitan culture, European-style art and architecture was considered the most appropriate form of expression (Sardar, 2000). The opening bifolio of the present Qur'an demonstrates the elegant blend of the two styles. While the gold ground is pin-pricked with the Turkish cintamani motif, the vegetal motifs of the floral frame are reminiscent of rococo carved mirrors such as an eighteenth century example in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv, no. 2388.1855).

A Qur'an with similar rococo-style illumination was sold in these Rooms, 25 October 2018, lot 243; see also Sotheby's, London, 22 April 2015, lot 76.