SAFAVID HERAT, THIRD QUARTER 16TH CENTURY

This Qur'an belongs to a small group of very luxurious manuscripts copied in Safavid Herat in the third quarter of the 16th century. In these manuscripts, gold is not limited to illumination and sura headings, but is also used for the text itself. While the tradition of writing Qur'an manuscripts with gold has existed from an early period, including a complete Qur'an attributed to Abbasid Mesopotamia and sold in these Rooms, 23 October 2007, lot 20, in Safavid Herat the practice reached an understated refinement rarely seen elsewhere. The group to which the present Qur'an belongs is additionally characterised by the lack of black outlines for the gold text, which is typically used to draw the reader's attention. The rarity of these Qur'an manuscripts copied with golden text suggests that the practice was reserved for only the most important of commissions.

The frontispiece of the present Qur’an, with its angular layout, black frame, use of minute floral scrolls on blue and gold ground is in many ways comparable to that of a Qur’an signed 'Ali bin Mahmud al-Haravi, and dated Rabi' I AH 967/December 1559 AD in the Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi, Istanbul (TİEM 135; 1400. Yılında Kur'an-ı Kerim, exhibition catalogue, Istanbul, 2010, cat.72, pp.294-295). It also shares a layout and style of illumination with a Qur’an copied by Muhammad bin Mirak in Ramadan AH 965/June-July 1558 AD in Herat, sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2003, lot 18, where the elongated medallions bordering each of the small naskh panels are particularly similar.