A large and finely illuminated Qur'an, Persia, Safavid, mid-16th century

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

leather and paper

Arabic Manuscript on paper, 316 folios, 12 lines per page written in fine Naskh script with interlinear Persian translation in red Nasta`liq, verse divisions marked with gold rosettes, fifth and tenth verses marked in margins with illuminated roundels, catchwords in black, surah headings written in white thuluth script on finely illuminated rectangular panels, two opening and one closing double pages of illumination, two further pages with illuminated headpieces, inscription on folio 1a dated 1003 AH/1595 AD, 19th or early 20th century gilt-stamped red morocco binding, with fore-edge flap

Provenance

American Private Collection since 1969

Catalogue Note

This is a splendid manuscript of the Qur'an, beautifully executed, with particularly fine illumination. The illuminated pages are as follows:
Ff.1b-2a. Double page illuminated shamsa containing a blessing written in white thuluth script.
Ff.2b-3a. Fully illuminated double page with the text of Surah al-Fatiha (I) written in white rayhani script.
Ff.3b. Illuminated headpiece marking the start of Surah al-Baqarah (II).
Ff.314b-315a. Fully illuminated double page with a closing prayer written in white rayhani script.
F.315b. Illuminated headpiece marking start of the Falnama.

The naskhi script used in this manuscript is close to the hand of Ruzbihan Muhammad of Shiraz, the master calligrapher and illuminator of the mid-sixteenth century. Two Qur'ans signed by him that demonstrate this similarity are in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (James 1992, cats.39, 40, pp.151-155, 160-163). Another feature common to the present manuscript and those of Ruzbihan Muhammad appears in the surah headings, where the scribe and illuminator have occasionally placed the final words of the previous surah in reserve within the illuminated panel of the surah heading (see James 1992, cat.39, pp.151, 155).

The refined style of illumination can be related to several other Qur'ans of mid-sixteenth century Persian origin, including at least two associated with royal commissions. The shamsas here are extremely close in design and detail to those of a Qur'an copied by the royal scribe Abdallah al-Shirazi in the mid-sixteenth century at either Tabriz or Qazwin, and probably made for the royal library (Quaritch 1991, no.15, sale in these rooms, 12 October 2000, lot 17). The design and execution is so close as to be possibly attributable to the same illuminator. The serpentine motif on the shamsas, which also appears at the top of the headpiece on folio 315b, can also be seen in the borders of an illuminated double page and the upper band of an illuminated headpiece in a Qur'an dated 959 AH/1552 AD produced at Qazwin or Shiraz, which Anthony Welch suggested might have belonged to Shah Tahmasp, and later belonged to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (James 1992, no.43, p.177, Geneva 1985, cat.66). The opening double page frontispiece in the present manuscript is very similar in style and design to a frontispiece from a Qur'an of circa 1550-75 in the Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. (Lowry and Beach 1988, no.11, p.21).

The manuscript bears a date on the opening page of 1003 AH/1595 AD, providing a terminus quem for the production.