An illuminated concertina-form calligraphic muraqqa’, Turkey, Ottoman, 17th/18th century

Arabic mansuscript on paper, constructed of 16 album pages, comprising 15 calligraphic pages, each with an upper and lower line of large text in thuluth script, enclosing 3 smaller lines of angular naskh script, all in black ink, verses separated by gold florets, panels to the sides of the centre text decorated with marbled paper, margins ruled in colours and gold, outer margins flecked with gold, spurious colophon attribution to Shaykh Hamdullah, brown morocco binding with gilt-stamped lobed central cartouche filled with flowerheads and saz leaves, corner pieces with scrolling vines and chinoiserie cloud bands

In generally good overall condition, binding edges worn, some water staining, text bold and illumination bright, four calligraphic panels and one panel of the binding detached, as viewed.
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