Accession number
MS M.840
Object title
Four leaves from a Qurʼan.
Display Date
first quarter of the 14th cent.
Created
Iraq, probably Baghdad, first quarter of the 14th cent.
Credit line
Gift of the Estate of Belle da Costa Greene, 1951.
Description
4 leaves (7 lines) : paper, ill. ; 338 x 257 mm.
Provenance
Belle da Costa Greene.
Notes
Ms. leaves from a Qurʼan; written and illuminated in the first quarter of the 14th century; probably in Baghdad, Iraq.
Text: sura 34, Sabāʼ (Sheba), verses 1-7 (fol. 1); sura 11, Hūd (Hūd), verses 89-94 (fol. 2), 112-20 (fol. 3); sura 41 Fuṣṣilat (Explained), verses 34-40 (fol. 4).
Two hundred and two leaves from this manuscript are in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; 173 leaves are in the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul (Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi); four additional fol. were sold at Sotheby's, London, Apr. 7, 1975 (lot 185).
Scribe: ʻAbd-Allāh Arghūn al-Kāmilī.
Decoration: written on polished cream paper; a torsional rosette in gold with red and turquoise accents appears after verse in the smaller script; in the larger script verse endings are marked by ornaments like sunbursts inscribed with the word āya in a large script in gold on a red background framed in gold and blue; marginal illuminations include teardrop-shaped ornaments inscribed with the word khamsa and sunbursts inscribed with the word ʻashara; the center disks of the marginal decorations are red or blue and gold; the borders of overlapping petals and palmettes are in two shades of blue, two shades of bright gree, cream, red, and gold.
Text: sura 34, Sabāʼ (Sheba), verses 1-7 (fol. 1); sura 11, Hūd (Hūd), verses 89-94 (fol. 2), 112-20 (fol. 3); sura 41 Fuṣṣilat (Explained), verses 34-40 (fol. 4).
Two hundred and two leaves from this manuscript are in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; 173 leaves are in the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul (Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi); four additional fol. were sold at Sotheby's, London, Apr. 7, 1975 (lot 185).
Scribe: ʻAbd-Allāh Arghūn al-Kāmilī.
Decoration: written on polished cream paper; a torsional rosette in gold with red and turquoise accents appears after verse in the smaller script; in the larger script verse endings are marked by ornaments like sunbursts inscribed with the word āya in a large script in gold on a red background framed in gold and blue; marginal illuminations include teardrop-shaped ornaments inscribed with the word khamsa and sunbursts inscribed with the word ʻashara; the center disks of the marginal decorations are red or blue and gold; the borders of overlapping petals and palmettes are in two shades of blue, two shades of bright gree, cream, red, and gold.
Script
raiḥān and naskh
Language
Arabic
Resources
Century
Catalog link
Classification
Department