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A Qur'an leaf written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 1
A Qur'an leaf written in kufic script on vellum Near East or North Africa, 9th Century image 2
Lot 1

A Qur'an leaf written in kufic script on vellum
Near East or North Africa, 9th Century

11 June 2020, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £5,312.50 inc. premium

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A Qur'an leaf written in kufic script on vellum
Near East or North Africa, 9th Century

Arabic manuscript on vellum, 7 lines to the page written in bold kufic script in brown ink with vowel points in red, one verse-marking consisting of three small gold dots in a triangular formation, losses to edges
195 x 292 mm.

Footnotes

Text
Sura II, al-Baqarah, The Heifer, part of verse 259 to part of verse 260.

Leaves from this dispersed Qur'an manuscript are notable for their strong and disciplined hand, as well as the strong, exaggerated mashq present here, indicative of 'perfect mastery of the pen' (François Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London 1992, p. 69). Other sections from this Qu'ran are in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, The Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran (Ms. 4289: see M. Lings, The Qur'anic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, Westerham 1976, no. 5), and the Pars Museum, Shiraz.

Various other folios from this Qu'ran displaying the same features have appeared at auction: see for example, Sotheby's, 24 October 2007, lot 4; two leaves, 9th April 2008, lot 13; 1 April 2009, lot 2; 14 April 2010, lots 1 & 5; 5 October 2011, lot 54; a bifolium, 24 April 2013, lot 3; 20 April 2015, lot 2; 19 October 2016, lot 152.

Additional information