Arts of the Islamic World and India, including Fine Rugs and Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World and India, including Fine Rugs and Carpets
An illuminated Qur'an leaf in Kufic script on vellum, North Africa or Near East, 9th century AD
Auction Closed
April 26, 01:36 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
text: surah yunus (X), last word of v.102 - surah hud (XI), middle of v.3
Arabic manuscript on vellum, 14 lines to the page written in elongated Kufic in dark brown ink, diacritics in the form of red dots, verses separated by triangular clusters of three gold dots, khamsa marker in the shape of a gold ha', end of surah marked by a gold and polychrome illuminated rosette, surah heading in gold
25.1 by 33.5cm.
Folios from this exquisite Qur’an have been variously attributed. A Qur’an section offered at Christie’s, 2 May 2019 lot 2, of similar dimensions and with the same number of lines to the page, presented comparable ‘ashr markers consisting of golden rosettes enclosing abjad numerals. In that section the number sixty is indicated with the letter sad instead of the letter sin, which might suggest that it was copied in the Western Mediterranean (Fraser & Kwiatkowski 2006, p.44). Further folios from this Qur’an were sold in these rooms, 23 October 2019, lot 105, and 9 April 2014, lot 17.