SIGNED BY ISMA’IL AL-HAQI, PUPIL OF SAYYID AL-HAFIZ ‘ALI AL-RAMZI PUPIL OF SAYYID AL-HAFIZ AL-HAJJ AL-‘ARIF BI-‘AZZATI, PROBABLY SHUMEN, BULGARIA, DATED AH 1271 / 1884-85 AD

The colour palette used in our copy incorporating white, pink, purple, orange and green, are a typical feature of Shumen Qur'ans which were far more prominent than in traditional illuminations, in which gold and blue grounds played a dominant role (Stanley, 2009, pp.248 and 227). The opening bifolio is in the traditional Shumen layout, with an elongated cusped oval shaped medallion, and borders filled with a well-modulated combination of modified Ottoman and novel European motifs. Other copies of Qur’ans from Shumen sold in these Rooms include, 26 April 2018, lot 177, 26 October 2017, lot 229, 16 June 1987, lot 82, 12 October 1978, lot 7, and at Sotheby’s, London, 21 November 1985, lot 390. For a prayer book also produced in Shumen see lot 165 in this catalogue.