A LARGE AND EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED QUR'AN, COPIED BY HAFIZ AHMED EFENDI, TURKEY, CONSTANTINOPLE, OTTOMAN, CIRCA 1700 |

Arabic manuscript on paper, 295 leaves plus 4 fly-leaves, 15 lines to the page, written in naskh, thuluth and muhaqaq in black ink, ruled in gold, black and red, verses separated by gold pointed markers, gold and polychrome floral marginal markers, surah headings in white against a gold cartouches decorated with flower scrolls, gold and polychrome opening double page frontispiece decorated with interlacing floral scrolls, in dark brown Ottoman binding with flap

In reasonably goodcondition, the margins have been cropped but are clean, rebound, stains, rubbing and some restorations to the paper affecting in particular the margins, as viewed.
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Ahmed Muharrem Efendi, better known as Hafiz Ahmed after memorising the whole Qur’an, studied thuluth and naskh under the supervision of Hafiz Halil Efendi and was celebrated for his mastery in these scripts. He lived in the quarter of Kasimpasa, in the the Beyoglu district, Istanbul, where he died in 1723. A Qur’an copied by him and dated 1103 AH/1692 AD is now in the Istanbul University Library (inv.no.A.6715; published in Derman 2010, p.186-7). Another Qur'an, copied in 1113 AH/1701 AD was sold in these rooms, 9 April 2014, lot 64. This Qur’an is particularly exceptional as it combines three different scripts within one text: muhaqqaq, naskh and thuluth. Although examples of Qur’ans in naskh and muhaqqaq or naskh and thuluth were common during the Safavid period (see, for example, lot 20), manuscripts from Ottoman times which combine more than one style are rarer and usually limited to sections (see Qur’an sections offered in these rooms, 7 October 2009, lot 5, in which the text is written in alternated naskh and muhaqqaq). Complete Qur’ans copied by an Ottoman scribes in different styles are indeed rare and unusual. A famous example is the Qur’an copied by Ahmed Karahisari (and completed by his student and adopted son Hasan Celebi) now in the Topkapi Palace Library (inv.no.H.S.5, published in Derman 2010, p.56-57). Karahisari’s Qur’an combines muhaqqaq, rayhani, naskh, thuluth and tawqi, offering a format which is clearly imitated in the layout of this manuscript. Hafiz Ahmed Efendi, master of naskh, is here trying to copy the use of more than one script. The use muhaqqaq for the bismillah and alternating the use of naskh and thuluth for the rest of the text, makes this manuscript an interesting and nearly unique example of a experiment of calligraphy which seems to have been limited to Karahisari’s earlier Qur’an.