Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
A large illuminated Qur'an, North India, Sultanate, late 14th/15th century
Auction Closed
March 31, 12:40 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Arabic manuscript on cream paper, 329 leaves, 12 lines to the page, written in muhaqqaq script in black ink, verses separated by gold rosettes, surah headings in red on pink hatched ground within rectangular panels with borders in colours and gold, margins with illuminated roundels, f.1a with a large illuminated shamsa in blue, red and gold, the following double page with borders enclosing the text in colours and gold, significant marginal paper repair to opening and closing pages, soft leather binding, with flap
45.3 by 30.6cm.
Pre-Mughal Islamic manuscripts from India are rare, few having survived mainly due to political instability and unfavourable climatic conditions. The present Qur’an represents a good example of manuscript production during the Sultanate period in India. Unlike slightly later Sultanate manuscripts, the script employed in the writing of the text is less obviously Bihari and more muhaqqaq in style, but leaning towards the more spiny, stylised form that it would become. 'True' Bihari script, probably a relation of Naskh, has obscure origins, but the tradition of copying Qur'ans in this hand appears to have lasted only from the period between the collapse of the Delhi Sultanate at the end of the fourteenth century and the rise of the Mughals in the mid-sixteenth century.
The earliest known Qur'an of this type is from Gwalior, near Delhi, dated 1398 and housed in the collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (see S. Canby, Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, London, 1998, pp.106-7, item 76). A further Qur'an is dated 1483 AD, and can be found in the Bijapur Archaeological Museum (MS.912, see M. Brand and G. Lowry, Akbar's India: Art from the Mughal City of Victory, catalogue of an exhibition at the Asia Society, New York, 1985, cat. no.71).
A fifteenth century Sultanate period Qur'an in Bihari script was sold in these rooms, 25 April 1991, lot 237. Further related examples dated to the 15th and 16th centuries were sold in these rooms, 27 October 2020, lot 411, 9 October 2013, lot 212, and 6 October 2010, lot 16.
The earliest known Qur'an of this type is from Gwalior, near Delhi, dated 1398 and housed in the collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (see S. Canby, Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, London, 1998, pp.106-7, item 76). A further Qur'an is dated 1483 AD, and can be found in the Bijapur Archaeological Museum (MS.912, see M. Brand and G. Lowry, Akbar's India: Art from the Mughal City of Victory, catalogue of an exhibition at the Asia Society, New York, 1985, cat. no.71).
A fifteenth century Sultanate period Qur'an in Bihari script was sold in these rooms, 25 April 1991, lot 237. Further related examples dated to the 15th and 16th centuries were sold in these rooms, 27 October 2020, lot 411, 9 October 2013, lot 212, and 6 October 2010, lot 16.