SIGNED AHMAD AL-INFIRADI, OTTOMAN MECCA, DATED RABI' I AH 933/DECEMBER 1526 - JANUARY 1527 AD

This Qur’an is ambitious in its decorative scheme adorning the beginning of each juz’ with a bifolio enclosed within an illuminated frame. While it is typical to find illuminated headpieces and frames on the opening bifolios of single Qur’an juz’ manuscripts (see for example one sold at Sotheby’s, London, 23 October 2019, lot 30), in single-volume Qur’ans, marginal medallions are more commonly employed than the more extensive markers displayed here. The lavish and generously distributed decorations in our Qur’an might be explained by the illuminated shamsas at the beginning of the manuscript which state that the Qur’an was intended as a gift to the library of a certain Ridwan Pasha, written in Mecca AH 933⁄1526-27 AD.