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拍品專文
This important fragmentary folio comes from a monumental Qur'an manuscript dated to the 1st century AH/7th century AD. This very early dating is supported both stylistically and by radiocarbon analysis carried out by the University of Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit in 2001, which dates the parchment to 609–694 CE. It originates from a known manuscript that, despite its age, has yet to receive a thorough scholarly examination.
The manuscript is now dispersed, with the largest section of 122 folios in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum (TIEM), Istanbul (Env. 51 and 52), transferred from the Great Mosque of Homs at the beginning of the 20th century (Éléonore Cellard, Le Codex Amrensis 22, Leiden, forthcoming, unpaginated). Beyond this, four single folios are known, including the present lot. One is in the House of the Manuscripts in Baghdad (Dar al-Makhtutat 678), and a second is in the Astan-e Quds Razavi Library in Mashhad (Cellard, op. cit., chapter 3, note 13). The final known folio had been in the collection of the Hartford Seminary, Connecticut, for over a century before it was sold at Sotheby’s London, 13 October 2004, lot 3, and subsequently with Sam Fogg, where it was published by Marcus Fraser and Will Kwiatkowski, Ink and Gold: Islamic Calligraphy, London, 2006, pp. 18–21.
The manuscript originally comprised of approximately 220 parchment folios of a nearly square format, with exceptional dimensions of 50.5 × 54.5 cm. It appears to be in an in‑folio (where the original sheet has been folded once to give two leaves), or possibly in‑plano, format, implying that each folio may have required an entire animal skin—a hypothesis warranting further codicological study but which would have required a patron of significant wealth. Each page contains 25 lines of text. The script can generally be classified as C.I according to Déroche’s system; however, Nabia Abbott noted slightly inclined vertical strokes indicative of a Hijazi influence (Nabia Abbott, The Rise of the North African Script, Chicago, 1939, p. 23). C.I most likely emerged during the Umayyad period, as suggested by its similarities with the inscriptions of the Dome of the Rock mosaic (AH 72/CE 691) and the milestones from the reign of 'Abd al-Malik, and it remained in use throughout the 2nd/8th century (François Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition: Qur'ans of the 8th to 10th centuries, London, 1992, p. 36). The persistence of Hijazi stylistic features, together with radiocarbon evidence, supports identifying the present manuscript as one of the earliest known examples of C.I script, dating to the final decades of the 1st /7th century.
Our folio is notable for the illumination on both sides. Verse divisions are marked by diagonal dashes, with every tenth verse indicated by a square cartouche featuring a green quatrefoil motif on a brown background. In addition to the verse markers, two ornamental bands are partially preserved: on the recto, before the beginning of Surat al-Muddaththir (Q.LXXIV), and on the verso, concluding the sura. The bands are done in red, green, and yellow pigments and combine vegetal, architectural, and geometric motifs, with vegetal scrolls at the ends. These motifs correspond to those found in other manuscripts dated to the Umayyad period, such as Codex Amrensis 22A, partly held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Arabe 324), dated to the second half of the 1st/7th or first half of the 2nd/8th century (Cellard, op.cit.), and the Umayyad Qur'an attributed to Caliph al-Walid in Sana'a (Dar al-Makhtutat, DaM 20–33.1).
Some attempts have been made to assign a specific place of production for this manuscript. Dutton concludes a Meccan origin based on his analysis of the text and verse numbering on our folio, “or, at least, a mushaf written and numbered according to early Meccan norms” (Dutton, op.cit, p. 81). A similar attribution to Mecca or the Hijaz is proposed by Abbott (Abbott, op. cit., p. 23). However, Cellard observes that other folios from the manuscript held at the TIEM also exhibit one Medinan and Syrian consonantal variant, and therefore prefers, for the time being, a broad geographical attribution encompassing the Hijaz and, potentially, Syria (personal communication).
In general, the manuscript from which our folio originates can be linked to a group of luxurious Qur'anic manuscripts produced in Umayyad imperial workshops, characterized by their monumental dimensions, distinctive script, and characteristic ornamental features. Among these are the so-called al-Walid Qur'an from Sana'a (DaM 20–33.1) and another Qur'an in Kairouan (Raqqada, Museum of Islamic Art, R38), a folio of which is preserved in the David Collection, Copenhagen (86 / 2003). Beyond stylistic affinities, these two manuscripts have been radiocarbon-dated to CE 657–690 and CE 648–691 (Déroche, op. cit., pp. 116, 125), both results closely corresponding to that of our manuscript. A monumental Kufic Qur'an folio was sold in these Rooms 30 October 2025, lot 7, and another, slightly later folio, at Sotheby’s London 26 October 2022, lot 10.
This lot is accompanied by a radiocarbon dating report from the University of Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit dated 22 November 2001. The report concludes that the it is most likely that the parchment was made between AD 610 and AD 720. This result was then refined to a range of AD 609 and AD 694 (see Dutton, op.cit., pp.63-64).
We are grateful to Éléonore Cellard for her assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.
The manuscript is now dispersed, with the largest section of 122 folios in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum (TIEM), Istanbul (Env. 51 and 52), transferred from the Great Mosque of Homs at the beginning of the 20th century (Éléonore Cellard, Le Codex Amrensis 22, Leiden, forthcoming, unpaginated). Beyond this, four single folios are known, including the present lot. One is in the House of the Manuscripts in Baghdad (Dar al-Makhtutat 678), and a second is in the Astan-e Quds Razavi Library in Mashhad (Cellard, op. cit., chapter 3, note 13). The final known folio had been in the collection of the Hartford Seminary, Connecticut, for over a century before it was sold at Sotheby’s London, 13 October 2004, lot 3, and subsequently with Sam Fogg, where it was published by Marcus Fraser and Will Kwiatkowski, Ink and Gold: Islamic Calligraphy, London, 2006, pp. 18–21.
The manuscript originally comprised of approximately 220 parchment folios of a nearly square format, with exceptional dimensions of 50.5 × 54.5 cm. It appears to be in an in‑folio (where the original sheet has been folded once to give two leaves), or possibly in‑plano, format, implying that each folio may have required an entire animal skin—a hypothesis warranting further codicological study but which would have required a patron of significant wealth. Each page contains 25 lines of text. The script can generally be classified as C.I according to Déroche’s system; however, Nabia Abbott noted slightly inclined vertical strokes indicative of a Hijazi influence (Nabia Abbott, The Rise of the North African Script, Chicago, 1939, p. 23). C.I most likely emerged during the Umayyad period, as suggested by its similarities with the inscriptions of the Dome of the Rock mosaic (AH 72/CE 691) and the milestones from the reign of 'Abd al-Malik, and it remained in use throughout the 2nd/8th century (François Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition: Qur'ans of the 8th to 10th centuries, London, 1992, p. 36). The persistence of Hijazi stylistic features, together with radiocarbon evidence, supports identifying the present manuscript as one of the earliest known examples of C.I script, dating to the final decades of the 1st /7th century.
Our folio is notable for the illumination on both sides. Verse divisions are marked by diagonal dashes, with every tenth verse indicated by a square cartouche featuring a green quatrefoil motif on a brown background. In addition to the verse markers, two ornamental bands are partially preserved: on the recto, before the beginning of Surat al-Muddaththir (Q.LXXIV), and on the verso, concluding the sura. The bands are done in red, green, and yellow pigments and combine vegetal, architectural, and geometric motifs, with vegetal scrolls at the ends. These motifs correspond to those found in other manuscripts dated to the Umayyad period, such as Codex Amrensis 22A, partly held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Arabe 324), dated to the second half of the 1st/7th or first half of the 2nd/8th century (Cellard, op.cit.), and the Umayyad Qur'an attributed to Caliph al-Walid in Sana'a (Dar al-Makhtutat, DaM 20–33.1).
Some attempts have been made to assign a specific place of production for this manuscript. Dutton concludes a Meccan origin based on his analysis of the text and verse numbering on our folio, “or, at least, a mushaf written and numbered according to early Meccan norms” (Dutton, op.cit, p. 81). A similar attribution to Mecca or the Hijaz is proposed by Abbott (Abbott, op. cit., p. 23). However, Cellard observes that other folios from the manuscript held at the TIEM also exhibit one Medinan and Syrian consonantal variant, and therefore prefers, for the time being, a broad geographical attribution encompassing the Hijaz and, potentially, Syria (personal communication).
In general, the manuscript from which our folio originates can be linked to a group of luxurious Qur'anic manuscripts produced in Umayyad imperial workshops, characterized by their monumental dimensions, distinctive script, and characteristic ornamental features. Among these are the so-called al-Walid Qur'an from Sana'a (DaM 20–33.1) and another Qur'an in Kairouan (Raqqada, Museum of Islamic Art, R38), a folio of which is preserved in the David Collection, Copenhagen (86 / 2003). Beyond stylistic affinities, these two manuscripts have been radiocarbon-dated to CE 657–690 and CE 648–691 (Déroche, op. cit., pp. 116, 125), both results closely corresponding to that of our manuscript. A monumental Kufic Qur'an folio was sold in these Rooms 30 October 2025, lot 7, and another, slightly later folio, at Sotheby’s London 26 October 2022, lot 10.
This lot is accompanied by a radiocarbon dating report from the University of Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit dated 22 November 2001. The report concludes that the it is most likely that the parchment was made between AD 610 and AD 720. This result was then refined to a range of AD 609 and AD 694 (see Dutton, op.cit., pp.63-64).
We are grateful to Éléonore Cellard for her assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.