SAHIH AL-BUKHARI, VOLUME SEVENTEEN OF MUHAMMAD IBN ISMA'IL AL-BUKHARI'S HADITH OF THE PROPHET, SPAIN OR MOROCCO, CIRCA 14th CENTURY

Arabic manuscript on vellum, 103 leaves plus 8 flyleaves, 15 lines to the page written in elegant maghribi script in brown ink, headings and keywords picked out in blue and red, catchwords, illuminations within the text composed of triangular clusters of gold dots pointed in red and blue, opening double page illuminated frontispiece comprising two panels decorated with a rigorous ground of interlacing split-palmettes in blue, white and green with a gold strapwork border, with corresponding medallions extending into the margins, the following page with an illuminated headpiece with interlocking geometric motifs, illuminated endpiece, later brown morocco binding with tooled floral decoration, with flap

In good overall condition, some stains but vellum generally clean and ink strong, gold bright, slightly cropped pages, as viewed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Born in Bukhara in 194 AH/810 AD, Muhammad Ibn Isma'il Al-Bukhari wrote his Al Jami' Al Sahih (now prominently known as the Sahih Al-Bukhari) as a compilation of 7,397 traditions selected from the 600,000 hadith that were extant in his time (The Encyclopaedia of Islam, H.A.R. Gibb et al (eds.), vol.I, Leiden, 1986, p.1296).

This particular example, probably copied in fourteenth-century Spain or Morocco, bears a magnificent opening frontispiece with an intricate design that finds close parallels in decorative panels from the Alhambra palace in Granada. Specifically, the interlacing calligraphic elements and vegetal scrolls are analogous with an ornamental frieze in the Qalahurra of Yusuf I, or Torre de la Cautiva (Antonio Fernández-Puertas, The Alhambra I: From the Ninth Century to Yusuf I (1354), London, 1997, p.313, pl.17). Colour plates of this and other architectural patterns from the Alhambra also comparable to the current lot's frontispiece were made by Owen Jones in the mid-nineteenth century and are published in Mariam Rosser-Owen, Islamic Arts from Spain, London, 2010, p.125, no.118. Additionally, the gold strapwork pattern that constitutes the border of this illumination is stylistically related to one in the frontispiece of an Almohad or Nasrid Qur'an attributed to Granada circa 1313 AH/1895 AD, which was sold in these rooms 23 April 1997, lot 48.

A further important similarity exists between this Sahih's illuminated headpiece and one in part two of a four-part Qur'an from North Africa or Iberia dated 1250-1350 AD, which is now in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (see David James, The Master Scribes, London, 1992, pp.216-7, no.54). Both reveal identical geometric borders of interlocking chain pattern and similar lateral medallions comprising twirling split-palmettes. Attention can also be drawn to the central panel of the present headpiece, which mirrors the white geometric motif and coloured grounds featured in an illumination from another fourteenth-century copy of the Sahih, now in the Bibliothèque al-Hassania in Rabat (see Mohamed Sijelmassi, Enluminures des manuscrits royaux au Maroc, Paris, 1987, p.48, no.12617).