.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This Qur’an section, written in a particularly elegant ‘eastern’ kufic, is a rarely preserved example on vellum written at the stylistic peak of the script.
‘Eastern’ kufic, generally associated with Iran, developed in the ninth century, primarily for use on non-Qur’anic texts,. However it gradually established its legitimacy as a Qur’anic script in the tenth and eleventh centuries up until the early thirteenth century. Sheila Blair comments that the most striking manuscripts written in this script measured less than 25 x 20cm. and contained few lines, commonly only four to five lines to the page (Blair, 2008, p.197). The small format of our manuscript spaced with only eight lines to the page would suggest that it formed part of one such codex.
The essence of the script, with its liberal vertical stokes and generous spacing, resulted in lavish codices that were multi-volume out of necessity. The development of this script coincided with the change from the horizontal format to the vertical format and also with the change from vellum to paper, which was easier to prepare and cheaper to produce. Blair estimates that multi-volume sets in this format could require as much as 2,250 folios to form the complete manuscript, a costly endeavour even on paper manuscripts (Blair, 2008, p.197). This section is a rare example of the script written on vellum. The high cost associated with producing such generously spaced manuscripts on paper is amplified here given the higher cost associated with vellum.
Tabbaa suggests that less than twenty percent of manuscripts written in ‘eastern’ kufic were written on vellum, with the vast majority written on paper (Tabbaa, 1991, p.127). This is reflected by the comparatively low number of surviving folios written on vellum when compared with their paper counterparts. They include: four folios written in a similar script and small format in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc.no.30.4) attributed to the beginning of the twelfth century, a small format section in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Arabe 377; Guesdon and Vernay-Nouri, 2001, no.33, p.64) dated to 9th-11th century, and a further, but larger-sized group of folios in the same collection (Arabe 342; Déroche, 1983, no.241, pl.XXI; Guesdon and Vernay-Nouri, 2001, no.17, p.39), attributed to the tenth century.
Paper began to replace vellum in the late tenth century and had completed its domination as the medium for writing by the end of the eleventh century. Like the folios preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, this surviving section is most likely an early example of the script written in the eleventh century. The beautifully executed script reinforces the proposed early date. The script is particularly close to the above examples where the emphasis remains on the ornamental angularity, such as the bold rounded waw leading into an incredibly fine terminal. The emphasis would gradually shift towards an improved legibility in the twelfth century (Déroche, 1992, p.134).
‘Eastern’ kufic, generally associated with Iran, developed in the ninth century, primarily for use on non-Qur’anic texts,. However it gradually established its legitimacy as a Qur’anic script in the tenth and eleventh centuries up until the early thirteenth century. Sheila Blair comments that the most striking manuscripts written in this script measured less than 25 x 20cm. and contained few lines, commonly only four to five lines to the page (Blair, 2008, p.197). The small format of our manuscript spaced with only eight lines to the page would suggest that it formed part of one such codex.
The essence of the script, with its liberal vertical stokes and generous spacing, resulted in lavish codices that were multi-volume out of necessity. The development of this script coincided with the change from the horizontal format to the vertical format and also with the change from vellum to paper, which was easier to prepare and cheaper to produce. Blair estimates that multi-volume sets in this format could require as much as 2,250 folios to form the complete manuscript, a costly endeavour even on paper manuscripts (Blair, 2008, p.197). This section is a rare example of the script written on vellum. The high cost associated with producing such generously spaced manuscripts on paper is amplified here given the higher cost associated with vellum.
Tabbaa suggests that less than twenty percent of manuscripts written in ‘eastern’ kufic were written on vellum, with the vast majority written on paper (Tabbaa, 1991, p.127). This is reflected by the comparatively low number of surviving folios written on vellum when compared with their paper counterparts. They include: four folios written in a similar script and small format in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc.no.30.4) attributed to the beginning of the twelfth century, a small format section in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Arabe 377; Guesdon and Vernay-Nouri, 2001, no.33, p.64) dated to 9th-11th century, and a further, but larger-sized group of folios in the same collection (Arabe 342; Déroche, 1983, no.241, pl.XXI; Guesdon and Vernay-Nouri, 2001, no.17, p.39), attributed to the tenth century.
Paper began to replace vellum in the late tenth century and had completed its domination as the medium for writing by the end of the eleventh century. Like the folios preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, this surviving section is most likely an early example of the script written in the eleventh century. The beautifully executed script reinforces the proposed early date. The script is particularly close to the above examples where the emphasis remains on the ornamental angularity, such as the bold rounded waw leading into an incredibly fine terminal. The emphasis would gradually shift towards an improved legibility in the twelfth century (Déroche, 1992, p.134).