.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This impressive Qur’an has features which place it firmly in the Mamluk period. The elegant black muhaqqaq script is similar to that of another Mamluk Qur'an in the National Museum of Kuwait (acc.no.LSN47MS). That one was dated 1346 AD and is illustrated in David James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, 1989, cat.22.
The gold thuluth headings, some with the interstices in polychrome, and the script are similar to a Qur'an sold in these Rooms, 21 April 2016, lot 71. However, this Qur’an distinguishes itself with sura headings set within rectangular gold and polychrome panels as well. While both sura heading styles are typical of 14th century Mamluk Qur'ans, it is unusual to find the two used in the same manuscript. Our Qur'an alternates between the styles providing the scribe and illuminator with the opportunity to display the full range of their skills.
It is also interesting to note that within the opening folios, there is a waqf inscription in Arabic. This records that the Qur’an was endowed by Muhammad, the imperial doorkeeper (al-bawwab al-sultani) to the mosque he built in Thessaloniki at the beginning of Muharram AH 1050/April 1640 AD. Later on, there is another waqf inscription belonging to the Kapuci Agha, ‘Chief Doorkeeper’, who is presumably the same person. While it is not possible to pin down which mosque this Qur’an was endowed to, these waqf inscriptions lend further provenance to the manuscript and help us to trace its journey from the Mamluk period to Ottoman Greece.
The gold thuluth headings, some with the interstices in polychrome, and the script are similar to a Qur'an sold in these Rooms, 21 April 2016, lot 71. However, this Qur’an distinguishes itself with sura headings set within rectangular gold and polychrome panels as well. While both sura heading styles are typical of 14th century Mamluk Qur'ans, it is unusual to find the two used in the same manuscript. Our Qur'an alternates between the styles providing the scribe and illuminator with the opportunity to display the full range of their skills.
It is also interesting to note that within the opening folios, there is a waqf inscription in Arabic. This records that the Qur’an was endowed by Muhammad, the imperial doorkeeper (al-bawwab al-sultani) to the mosque he built in Thessaloniki at the beginning of Muharram AH 1050/April 1640 AD. Later on, there is another waqf inscription belonging to the Kapuci Agha, ‘Chief Doorkeeper’, who is presumably the same person. While it is not possible to pin down which mosque this Qur’an was endowed to, these waqf inscriptions lend further provenance to the manuscript and help us to trace its journey from the Mamluk period to Ottoman Greece.