An illuminated Qur’an bifolium written in elaborate eastern kufic script, with a dated waqf inscription, text: Juz’ 5, Surat al-nisa (IV), parts of verses 148-150 and 160-162 North East Persia, Khorasan, probably Mashhad or Nishapur, late 10th/ 11th Century, before AH 540/AD 1145
£8,000 - £12,000
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Find your local specialistAn illuminated Qur’an bifolium written in elaborate eastern kufic script, with a dated waqf inscription, text: Juz’ 5, Surat al-nisa (IV), parts of verses 148-150 and 160-162
North East Persia, Khorasan, probably Mashhad or Nishapur, late 10th/ 11th Century, before AH 540/AD 1145
North East Persia, Khorasan, probably Mashhad or Nishapur, late 10th/ 11th Century, before AH 540/AD 1145
folio 216 x 155 mm.
Footnotes
Provenance:
Part of waqf inscription written in Arabic in naskhi script gives the name al- Nishaburi, and the date AH 540/AD 1145.
This highly important bifolium belongs to a group of known Qur’an sections and leaves produced in Khorasan, that date from the 10th to the 13th Century. The fact that the waqf inscription mentions the name (takhalus) al-Nishaburi, indicates that this bifolium was probably produced in North East Persia, in Nishapur itself or a nearby centre of manuscript production such as Mashhad. The date AH 540/ AD 1145 provides us with a terminus ante quem for the production of this manuscript. The valuable information in this waqf inscription fits perfectly with the documentation and cataloguing of other leaves and sections from this group. Moreover, a close examination of the paper dates it to the 10th/ 11th Century.
Nishapur flourished as an artistic centre for the production of metalwork, glass and pottery under the Sasanians, and reached the height of its prosperity under the Tahirids and Saminids in the 9th and 10th Centuries. It was ruled by the Seljuqs in the 11th and 12th Centuries until it was destroyed by a series of earthquakes and finally by the invasion of the Mongols in 1221. According to Arthur Lane the earliest and most sophisticated kind of decoration was on brownish or purplish black on an ivory-white ground with various kufic inscriptions which we can clearly relate to the eastern kufic script of this bifolium.
See A. Lane, Early Islamic Pottery, London 1947, pp. 17-19, and plate 14B.
For illustrations of some of these comparable examples of manuscripts and pottery dishes see:
The Arts of Islam, Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1976, p.223, nos. 279-280, and p. 318, no. 504.
Lisa Volov- Golombek, "Plaited Kufic on Samanid Epigraphic Pottery", Ars Orientalis, 6 (1966).
Anthony Welch, Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, New York, 1979, pp. 58-59, no. 9;
L’Islam dans les collections nationales, Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, 1977, no. 86;
E. Grube, Islamic Pottery of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection, London, 1976, pp. 92-100, nos. 56-57;
M. Lings & Y. Safadi, The Qur’an, London, 1976;
M. Lings, The Qur’anic Art of Calligraphy Illumination, London, 1976;
E. Atil, Islamic Art & Patronage: Treasures from Kuwait, New York, 1990;
Sothebys, Arts of the Islamic World, 30th April 2003, lot 1;
Christies , Islamic, Indian and Armenian Art and Manuscripts, 12th October 1999, lot 5.
This bifolium compares closely with the Christies’ Qur’an section. Although the number of lines to the page varies from 5 to 4, the illumination and the calligraphy are very similar. A common characteristic is when the scribe reaches the end of a line, he makes a sharp right turn and starts to write vertically up the end of the page.