NASRID SPAIN, 13TH CENTURY

The attribution of these striking pink folios to Spain rather than North Africa is based primarily on the use of paper. In North Africa, parchment remained the preferred material for the writing of Qur'ans into the 19th century. Spain, however, had been manufacturing and using high quality paper for manuscripts of all kinds for some time. Manuscripts like this one, on pink dyed paper are believed to have been produced in Jativa, near Valencia, the site of the earliest documented paper mill in Spain (Marcus Fraser and William Kwiatkowski, Ink and Gold: Islamic Calligraphy, Berlin-London, 2006, p.64).

The dyed paper, elaborate illumination, and bold maghribi script indicate that this folio was once part of the 'Pink Qur'an', written in the 13th century. The generous use of gold and spaciousness of the script (at a rate of five lines per page, the original manuscript would have run into many hundreds of pages) suggests that this was a commission by an Andalusi noble, or possibly even a member of the royal family. The word 'hubus' written in the top corner with pin-pricks also hints at the manuscript's later history: endowed to a religious foundation or madrasa, the patron would have hoped through their generosity to gain benefits in the afterlife.

Folios of the manuscript in institutions include a bifolium in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2017.232). A section comprising 205 leaves from this manuscript was sold at the Hotel George V, Paris, 30 October 1975, lot 488, and subsequently appeared at Sotheby's, 14 April 1976, lot 247. Since then several folios have been offered by auction houses, most recently seven folios which were offered by Sotheby's, 27 October 2020, lot 402, and in these rooms, 27 April 2023, lot 22.