Lot 19

A large Qur'an leaf in gold and black muhaqqaq script (sura Muhammad, the Prophet, XLVII, verses 4 (part)-20 (part))
Persia, probably Shiraz, mid-16th Century

Islamic and Indian Art

10 April 2008, 14:30 BST

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £840 inc. premium

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A large Qur'an leaf in gold and black muhaqqaq script (sura Muhammad, the Prophet, XLVII, verses 4 (part)-20 (part))
Persia, probably Shiraz, mid-16th Century

Arabic manuscript on cream-coloured paper, each line written in elegant muhaqqaq script in alternating black and gold within a panel sprinkled in alternating brown and green, text interspersed with illuminated florets, margins ruled in colours and gold, illuminated devices in wide margins, missing part of the inner margin, tear affecting one line of text
435 x 285 mm.

Footnotes

This leaf comes from a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an and epitomises the high quality of work being done in cities like Shiraz at this date. The use of muhaqqaq (favoured because of its flowing form) and of alternating black and gold, are typical, but the green and brown sprinkling is much less so.

Another folio from the same Qur'an is in the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (see David James, After Timur: Qur'ans of the 15th and 16th Centuries, Oxford 1992, pp. 170-171, no. 42.

Other leaves from the manuscript have appeared at Sotheby's, 23rd November 1976, lots 317-319; 3rd May 1977, lots 96-100; 18th July 1978, lots 177-79; 9th October 1978, lots 3-4; 24th April 1979, lots 229-235; 23rd April 1997, lot 44; 15th October 1998, lot 29; 3rd May 2001, lot 13.

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- Islamic and Indian Art

A large Qur'an leaf in gold and black muhaqqaq script (sura Muhammad, the Prophet, XLVII, verses 4 (part)-20 (part)) Persia, probably Shiraz, mid-16th Century

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A large Qur'an leaf in gold and black muhaqqaq script (sura Muhammad, the Prophet, XLVII, verses 4 (part)-20 (part)) Persia, probably Shiraz, mid-16th Century

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A large Qur'an leaf in gold and black muhaqqaq script (sura Muhammad, the Prophet, XLVII, verses 4 (part)-20 (part))
Persia, probably Shiraz, mid-16th Century

A large Qur'an leaf in gold and black muhaqqaq script (sura Muhammad, the Prophet, XLVII, verses 4 (part)-20 (part))
Persia, probably Shiraz, mid-16th Century