Bonhams 1793 : An illuminated Qur'an in scroll form written in ghubari script India, late 18th-19th Century(2)

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2 Oct 2012 10:30 BST London, New Bond Street
Islamic and Indian Art
Back to auction 20020

An illuminated Qur'an in scroll form written in ghubari script
India, late 18th-19th Century

Arabic manuscript on paper, in scroll form, text written horizontally and diagonally in ghubari script in red and black ink within panels outlined in gold, the text incorporated into larger cartouches in thuluth script making up ayat al-Kursi (sura II, verse 255), running from top to bottom of the scroll, these surrounded with gilt floral and vegetal motifs, an illuminated headpiece in gold at beginning, opening in naskhi script in red and black ink, main text panels interspersed with three panels of text in the form of roundels and a flower, borders of undulating floral motifs in gold, minor creasing, short tears restricted to outer borders, with cylindrical ivory case, probably 19th Century
4 m. 23 cm. x 90 mm.; case 104 mm. long(2)

Sold for £10,625 inc. premium

Footnotes

There is a similar Qur'an scroll in the Khalili Collection catalogued as Iran, probably Shiraz, dated AH 1206/AD 1791-92. Such Qur'an scrolls, written in ghubari script, were produced in Persia and India in the 18th and 19th Centuries, and because of the absence of text divisions, verse markers and sura headings were probably used as amulets, worn in a turban or attached to a belt or a banner. See J. M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D. Khalili Collection, Abu Dhabi 2008, p. 231, no. 266; or the same title, accompanying the exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2007, p. 187, no. 204. However, the rather rounded style of the script in the cartouches and the illumination of the present lot indicates that it was almost certainly produced in India.

Category: Islamic and Oriental Art / Islamic and Indian Art

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