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A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 1
A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 2
A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 3
A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 4
A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 5
A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 6
A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 7
A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 8
Thumbnail of A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 1
Thumbnail of A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 2
Thumbnail of A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 3
Thumbnail of A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 4
Thumbnail of A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 5
Thumbnail of A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 6
Thumbnail of A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 7
Thumbnail of A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 8
Lot 1•
A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum
Near East or North Africa, 9th Century
Islamic and Indian Art including Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art
22 October 2019, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

£80,000 - £120,000

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A bound group of ten leaves from six separate suras of a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an, written in kufic script on vellum
Near East or North Africa, 9th Century

Arabic manuscript on vellum, ten leaves, 14 lines to the page written in elongated kufic script in brown ink with vowel marks in red, verses marked with three gold dots arranged in triangular formation, illuminated circular devices marking the fifth and tenth verses, one sura heading in gold, modern leather binding incorporating the front and back covers of a later Persian manuscript
255 x 340 mm.

Footnotes

Text
Leaves 1–4: Sura XV, al-Hijr, The Rocky Tract, part of verse 8–end of verse 54.
Leaves 5–8: Sura XVI, al-Nahl, The Bee, part of verse 30–part of verse 53.
Leaves 9–10: Sura XIII, al-Ra'd, Thunder, part of verse 26–part of verse 33.
Leaves 11–12: Sura XIV, Ibrahim, Abraham, part of verse 6–part of verse 14.
Leaves 13–14: Sura XXI, al-Anbiya'a, The Prophets, part of verse 81–part of verse 94.
Leaves 15–18: Sura XXI, al-Anbiya'a, The Prophets, part of verse 38–part of verse 69.
Leaves 19–20: Sura XII, Yusuf, Joseph, part of verse 108–verse 111 (end of sura); and sura XIII, al-Ra'd, Thunder, verse 1–part of verse 3.

The manuscript from which this section derives belongs to group F in Deroche's taxonomy (see F. Deroche, The Abbasid Tradition: Qur'ans of the 8th to the 10th Centuries AD, London 1992, p. 42). Characteristics noted by him include a stretching of the letters (a feature of manuscripts copied in Damascus).

An eight-page section from the same manuscript of the Qur'an was sold at Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 6th April 2011, lot 167; two further leaves were sold on 6th October 2011, lots 1 and 2.

Additional information