COLOPHON WITH THE NAME OF AHMAD AL-NAYRIZI, SAFAVID ISFAHAN, IRAN, DATED RAMADAN AH 1120/NOVEMBER 1708 AD, WITH QAJAR ILLUMINATION

This heavily illuminated Qur’an is attributed to Ahmad Nayrizi (fl.1682-1722 AD), who was born in the town of Nayriz in Fars. His primary master in naskh was Muhammad Ibrahim ibn Muhammad Nasir Qumi, known as Aqa Ibrahim Qumi (fl.1659-1707 AD). In the late 17th century Nayrizi settled in Isfahan and came to the attention of Shah Sultan Husayn (r.1694-1722 AD) who became an important patron and by whom Nayrizi was given the honorific surname Sultani. He produced work for royal patrons for almost two decades.

Because Nayrizi’s manuscripts were so highly sought after, it was not uncommon for later owners of unsigned Qur’ans or prayer books to attribute their manuscripts to Nayrizi by adding a later colophon and attribution. It is with Ahmad Nayrizi that we find the development of a distinctly Iranian naskh, that went on to be used as the standard Qur'anic hand throughout the 19th century. A prayer book copied by Nayrizi is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, (inv. 2003.239, illustrated in: Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2011, no. 191, pp. 272-74). A Qur'an copied by him sold in these Rooms, 4 October 2012, lot 28.

For more information on the collection of Hossein Khadjeh Nouri please refer to the catalogue note of lot 38.