An illuminated Qur’an, copied by Abdullah al-Zihni, Turkey, Ottoman, dated 1117 AH/1705 AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 316 leaves plus 7 fly-leaves, 15 lines to the page, written in fine naskh in black ink, ruled in gold and red, verses separated by gold pointed rosettes, gold and polychrome floral roundels in the margins, surah headings in white naskh against a gold ground within polychrome cartouches, comments in the margins, gold and polychrome opening double page frontispiece, morocco binding with gilt-stamped decoration, with flap and fitted leather box

Ex-collection Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner (1879-1963), thence by descent. Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner (1879-1963) was one of the foremost Egyptologists of the early twentieth century. Born in Eltham, he was drawn to Egyptology from an early age, attracting the attention of the British Museum's Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, Dr (later Sir) E.A. Wallis Budge, when aged only fifteen. After studying at the Sorbonne, Paris and Queen’s College, Oxford, he published various articles in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology and later became editor of The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. He was renowned for his publication 'An Ancient Egyptian Grammar' and was asked to translate the inscriptions in Tutankhamun's tomb in 1926. Gardiner's Egypt of the Pharaohs, published in 1961, summarised his life's work.

In good condition, the margins with annotations, some leaves loose, the opening page with minor smudges but retaining bright colours, the binding in good condition, minor tear to the external box, as viewed.
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