EXCEPTIONAL GROUP OF ILLUMINATED ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS AND HANDWRITTEN QUR’ANS TO BE SHOWN AT THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM

Press release date: 
Thursday, September 8, 2011

The Morgan Library & Museum is internationally acclaimed for its collection of medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, but it may come as a surprise that it also possesses a number of important Islamic manuscripts dating from the late middle ages to the nineteenth century. They include such treasures as a thirteenth-century treatise on animals and their uses, regarded by some experts as one of the greatest of all Islamic manuscripts, and a rare, illustrated translation of the life of the celebrated Persian poet and mystic, Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi.

Beginning October 21, 2011 and running through January 29, 2012, these works, along with almost ninety additional manuscripts, single illuminated pages, and beautifully handwritten Qur’ans, will go on view in Treasures of Islamic Manuscript Painting from the Morgan. It is the first time the Morgan has gathered these spectacular volumes together in a single exhibition, and several are disbound, permitting visitors to view a selection of miniatures from them.

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