PROBABLY KAIROUAN, TUNISIA, FIRST HALF 10TH CENTURY

Details

A KUFIC QUR'AN SECTION
PROBABLY KAIROUAN, TUNISIA, FIRST HALF 10TH CENTURY
Qur'an XXX, sura al-rum, vv.53-60, Arabic manuscript on vellum, 4ff. each with 3ll. of fine sepia kufic, vocalisation in red, green and yellow, sepia diagonal dashes marking letter pointing, seven gold dots arranged in a pyramid marking verses, one folio with small gold illuminated medallion with the word khamsa in reserve in 'eastern' kufic, one folio with similar large gold illuminated medallion with the word sittun in reserve, ink on verso slightly faded, slight staining, part of the edge of folio lacking
Folio 9 1/8 x 12 7/8in. (23.2 x 32.5cm.)

Provenance

Anon sale in these Rooms, 9 October 2014, lot 15

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Sara Plumbly

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Lot Essay

Leaves from this Qur'an are in the Al-Sabah collection (Jenkins, 1983, p.19) and in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (Déroche, 1992, p.111). Déroche notes that the manuscript from which the folio comes is among the very few early Qur'ans written with three lines to the page, and that these were evidently sought after and very expensive since considerably more parchment and time was needed for their manufacture (Déroche, 1992, p.109). Further folios and sections from this manuscript have sold in these Rooms. See for example 15 October 2002, lot 7, 17 April 2007, lot 10, 8 April 2008, lot 19, 7 October 2008, lot 1 and more recently 6 October 2011, lot 38.

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