ALMOHAD MARRAKESH, MOROCCO, FIRST HALF 13TH CENTURY

Historically, the distinctive colouring of the pages of the 'Pink Qur'an' has been associated with Andalusi paper makers, and particularly the paper mill of Xativa. Umberto Bongianino and Éleonore Cellard, however, have recently demonstrated that dyed paper like this was manufactured on both sides of the straits of Gibraltar. Given that the pages are slightly larger than normal Xativa sheets, and based on chemical analysis of the dyes, it is most likely that the Qur'an was produced in Marrakech, where it remained through the subsequent centuries thanks to an endowment in the Marinid period, marked by the perforations to the upper margin of each folio (Bongianino and Cellard, The Pink Qur'an: A Reverse Biography, forthcoming). The rich illuminations of the Qur'an, marking most of the different ways of splitting the mushaf into sections, make it one of the most remarkable Maghrebi manuscripts ever produced. Folios sold recently include one sold Sotheby's London, 24 April 2024, lot 18 and another in these Rooms, 25 April 2024, lot 21.