Enrica Medugno
Senior Sale Coordinator
Lot 2
A leaf from a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an written in maghribi script on pink paper Andalusia, late 12th-early 13th Century
22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£4,000 - £6,000
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Oliver White
Head of Department
A leaf from a dispersed manuscript of the Qur'an written in maghribi script on pink paper
Andalusia, late 12th-early 13th Century
Andalusia, late 12th-early 13th Century
Arabic manuscript on pink paper, 5 lines to the page written in bold elegant Andalusian maghribi script in brown ink, sukun and tashdid in blue, letter pointing and vocalisation in gold, hamza marked by yellow and green dots, large illuminated circular markers between verses, illuminated triangular device in wide margins
335 x 260 mm.
335 x 260 mm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 1st May 2003, lot 10 (two leaves in the lot).
Text
Qur'an, sura LXIV, Taghabun, Mutual Loss and Gain, verses 11-14 (part); 16 (part)-verse 18 (end).
The attribution of these striking pink folios to Spain is based primarily on the use of paper. In the Maghreb, parchment remained in frequent use for the writing of Qur'ans into the 19th century. Spain, however, had been manufacturing and using high quality paper for manuscripts of all kinds for some time. Manuscripts like this one, on pink dyed paper are believed to have been produced in Jativa, near Valencia, the site of the earliest documented paper mill in Spain (Marcus Fraser and William Kwiatkowski, Ink and Gold: Islamic Calligraphy, Berlin and London, 2006, p.64).
For other examples and discussion, see: T. Falk, Treasures of Islam, Geneva 1985, p. 39, no. 7; Sam Fogg, Islamic Manuscripts, London 2000, pp. 22-23, no. 7.