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Lot Essay
This folio, elegantly illuminated with a sura heading, originates from a manuscript of exceptional precision and beauty. The distinctive script presents an impressive use of mashq indicating a "perfect mastery of the pen" (Déroche, 1992, p.69). According to Déroche’s classification of kufic scripts, this folio comes closest to the 'D.I’ group, a script attaining a ‘sober beauty' owing to the confidence of hand that clearly evokes the power and significance of the text.
The sura heading of the present folio is very finely worked with a palmette roundel extending into the margin which has highlights of red pigment. Déroche writes that the palmettes such as that seen here, which were at the edge of the page, marked the presence of the rest of the illumination within the text area, thus emphasizing the information that the main illumination carried (Déroche, 1992, p.23). The overlapping lappets which can be seen here framing the sura heading are also present on a Qur'an manuscript in the Islamic Arts Museum, Tehran (inv.4279, A Selection of Koran Manuscripts in the Museum of the Islamic Period, Tehran, sh.1375/1997 AD, p.31). This folio also has black ink which outlines many of the gold palmettes in the sura heading, contrasting with and highlighting the illumination.
Further folios of this manuscript with similar sura headings include one sold at Sotheby's, Doha, 19 March 2009, lot 303 and another sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2011, lot 1. For a bifolio from the same Qur’an and a further discussion on the calligraphy, see the following lot in this sale.
The sura heading of the present folio is very finely worked with a palmette roundel extending into the margin which has highlights of red pigment. Déroche writes that the palmettes such as that seen here, which were at the edge of the page, marked the presence of the rest of the illumination within the text area, thus emphasizing the information that the main illumination carried (Déroche, 1992, p.23). The overlapping lappets which can be seen here framing the sura heading are also present on a Qur'an manuscript in the Islamic Arts Museum, Tehran (inv.4279, A Selection of Koran Manuscripts in the Museum of the Islamic Period, Tehran, sh.1375/1997 AD, p.31). This folio also has black ink which outlines many of the gold palmettes in the sura heading, contrasting with and highlighting the illumination.
Further folios of this manuscript with similar sura headings include one sold at Sotheby's, Doha, 19 March 2009, lot 303 and another sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2011, lot 1. For a bifolio from the same Qur’an and a further discussion on the calligraphy, see the following lot in this sale.