COMMISSIONED FOR AMIN AL-DAWLA 'ABDULLAH KHAN, SIGNED 'ABDULLAH IBN 'ASHUR AL-RANANI AL-ISFAHANI, QAJAR IRAN, DATED AH 1244 / 1817-18 AD

Details

QUR'AN
COMMISSIONED FOR AMIN AL-DAWLA 'ABDULLAH KHAN, SIGNED 'ABDULLAH IBN 'ASHUR AL-RANANI AL-ISFAHANI, QAJAR IRAN, DATED AH 1244 / 1817-18 AD
Arabic manuscript on paper, 305ff. plus one flyleaf, each folio with 14ll. of black naskh with red nasta'liq interlinear translation, gold and polychrome rosette verse markers, sura headings in gold thuluth reserved against red or blue cartouches with fine arabesque spirals set within a gold illuminated panel, text panels within gold rules, the margins plain with commentary at the start of each sura in black nasta'liq within illuminated cartouches, illuminated medallions to mark divisions, catchwords, the opening bifolio with prayers in gold thuluth in red cusped cartouches, the following bifolio with 6ll. black naskh set within dense gold and polychrome illuminated and pricked margins, the final folio of the Qur'anic text with 5ll. similarly illuminated, the colophon signed and dated, concluding with prayers in red cartouche as at beginning, in Safavid gilt tooled leather binding, the doublures red leather with cruciform decoupé motif at the centre, with associated ephemera found in pages
Text panel 6 1/8 x 3 ½in. (15.5 x 9cm.); folio 8 1/8 x 5 1/8in. (20.6 x 13.1cm.)

Provenance

Anon sale, Christie's London, 2 May 2019, lot 68

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Amin al-Dawla 'Abdullah Khan Sadr Isfahani (1779-1847) served as chief revenue accountant and later Prime Minister under Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar. He was also the governor of Isfahan from 1806 to 1824, a period in which the city and province prospered. Another Qur'an commissioned for Amin al-Dawla 'Abdullah Khan and written by 'Abdullah al-Ranani was sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2015, lot 100.

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