ILKHANID IRAN, LATE 13TH/EARLY 14TH CENTURY

The illuminated sura headings, in which white thuluth appears in a rectangular panel flanked by two square panels filled with a roundel of geometric or floral design, are closely comparable to those on a manuscript which was displayed in the Ink and Gold exhibition, Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, 14 July-31 August 2006 (published Will Kwiatkowski and Marcus Fraser, Ink and Gold, Berlin, 2006, no.23, p.86). The script employed in this manuscript belongs to a later period: it is similar to that which appeared on a manuscript sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2009, lot 10. That manuscript retained its colophon with the signature of Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Mahmud al-Tabari al-Amuli, with a date in the middle of Jumada I AH 687/June 1288 AD. That manuscript was also of comparable size to the present lot.

16 further folios from the same manuscript as the present lot were sold in these Rooms, 31 March 2009, lot 6. A section from a similar manuscript, comprising only 26 folios, was also sold in these Rooms, 10 October 2013, lot 60.