AN ILLUMINATED QUR'AN JUZ' (X) IN MAGHRIBI SCRIPT ON VELLUM, NORTH AFRICA OR SPAIN, 13TH/14TH CENTURY |

text: surah al-Anfal (VIII) v.41 to surah al-Tawbah (IX) v.92 Arabic manuscript on vellum, 45 leaves, 7 lines to the page, written in large brown Maghribi script, diacritics in red and other orthographic signs in green, f.1b and f.2a with a gold and polychrome frontispiece, verses separated by large gold florets, marginal markers in different shapes, f.2b with a red and gold cartouche with gold Kufic against a blue ground decorated with white palmettes, f.10b with a surah heading in gold Kufic outlined in black with a medallion extending to the border, f.45b with a gold and polychrome cartouche marking the end of the juz’, in later brown binding with interlacing designs in relief

In generally good condition, water and other stains affecting mainly the borders, discoloration affecting mainly the marginal markers, smudges and losses to the vellum, as viewed.
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A similar Qur’an divided in thirty parts and copied in Fez in 745 AH/1344 AD bears strong similarities with the current manuscript (the Qur’an is now in the Al-Haram Al-Sharif Islamic Museum, see Salameh 2001, p.69-83). The frontispiece of juz’ twenty-eight is decorated with a very similar carpet page composed of a central star within red and blue cartouches interspaced by white interlacing lines on a gold ground (ibid, p.77). The style of the Kufic script as well as the blue ground with white palmettes in the opening cartouche of the current manuscript is also very similar to the opening page of juz’ fourteen (ibid, p.79).