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Lot Essay
The manuscript belongs to a small group produced in 14th century Iran, which all share a similar mise en page: five lines of rayhani chrysography, with cobalt vocaliation and tashkeel, within blue and gold rules. Other examples include an impressive volume in the National Library, Cairo, which was likely made for the Ilkhanid ruler Uljaytu (r.1304-16), and was written and illuminated by a certain 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Hamdani in 1313 AD (acc.no.72; published Martin Lings, The Qur'anic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, London, 1976, p.119, pls.52-4). Another manuscript copied for Uljaytu in 1310 also has these features, and is today in the British Library (acc.no.Or.4945, Lings, op.cit., p.119, nos.52-3). Finally, the same format can be seen in a Qur'an manuscript likely written for the Inju queen Tashi-Khatun, endowed to the Shah-i Chiragh Mosque in Shiraz, and today in the Pars Museum (acc.no.456, published David James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, London, 1988, no.69, p.247). This particular format of Qur'anic manuscript thus seems to have been strongly associated with prestigious commissions executed for royal patrons.
The colophon of this manuscript identifies the scribe with the laqab al-Sayini, which David James connects to the service of the Ilkhanid vizier Rukn al-Din Sayin, who enjoyed a brief career as vizier between 1324 and 1327. The association with the Mongol court leads James to identify the manuscript with the Ilkhanid capital in Tabriz (David James, The Master Scribes, Oxford, 1993, no.27, p.114). Five juz' from the series are currently in the Chester Beatty library, Dublin (acc.no.1469, published James, 1988, no.55, p.242), and another is in the Khalili Collection James, 1993, no.27). A folio from one volume was sold, Bonhams London, 24 April 2012, lot 5.
Several volumes from this series, which would have originally had 30 parts, have a waqf inscription indicating that they were endowed to the Farhaniyya madrasa in Ta'izz by a figure identified as 'the noble lady of the eunuch Jamal al-Din Farhan', at some point in the second half of the 14th century (James, 1988, p.162). Interestingly, the manuscript copied by al-Hamdani mentioned above also moved westward soon after it was written, having been endowed to a shrine in Egypt in 1326 AD.
The colophon of this manuscript identifies the scribe with the laqab al-Sayini, which David James connects to the service of the Ilkhanid vizier Rukn al-Din Sayin, who enjoyed a brief career as vizier between 1324 and 1327. The association with the Mongol court leads James to identify the manuscript with the Ilkhanid capital in Tabriz (David James, The Master Scribes, Oxford, 1993, no.27, p.114). Five juz' from the series are currently in the Chester Beatty library, Dublin (acc.no.1469, published James, 1988, no.55, p.242), and another is in the Khalili Collection James, 1993, no.27). A folio from one volume was sold, Bonhams London, 24 April 2012, lot 5.
Several volumes from this series, which would have originally had 30 parts, have a waqf inscription indicating that they were endowed to the Farhaniyya madrasa in Ta'izz by a figure identified as 'the noble lady of the eunuch Jamal al-Din Farhan', at some point in the second half of the 14th century (James, 1988, p.162). Interestingly, the manuscript copied by al-Hamdani mentioned above also moved westward soon after it was written, having been endowed to a shrine in Egypt in 1326 AD.