Page 10 - 2021 April 1, ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs, Christie's London

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A KUFIC QUR'AN BIFOLIO
NORTH AFRICA OR NEAR EAST, 9TH/10TH CENTURY
Qur'an XV, sura al-hijr, vv.56-82 (part) and Qur'an XVI, sura al-nahl, vv.16-30 The elegant use of mashq or keshide with the extension of the horizontal
(part), Arabic manuscript on paper, each folio with 14ll. of neat black kufic, letters to great aesthetic effect is beautifully executed throughout this folio.
diacritics in red, clusters of three gold roundels marking verses, khams marked This extension of horizontals as well as the returning of the tail of the final
by a gold kufic ha’, ‘ashr marked by gold and polychrome roundels with abjad ya form is more usually found on leaves grouped by Déroche into group 'D'
numerals, a marginal medallion in gold kufic surrounded by leafy vine, minor and associated more with the later 9th and the 10th century rather than
restoration to margins
firmly in the 9th century as other examples in group 'C'. The frequent use
Each folio 9æ x 13ºin. (24.8 x 33.5cm.)
of mashq also indicates the luxurious nature of this manuscript where the
£12,000-18,000 US$17,000-25,000 letters of the text are free to occupy space regardless of the material cost in
€14,000-21,000 terms of gold and vellum. It is likely that a wealthy patron was responsible
for commissioning such a luxurious copy of the Qur'an. Being the wealthiest
Folios from this elegant Qur'an have been variously attributed to Damascus
courts of the western Islamic lands at this period, the Fatimids or the
and more generally to the Eastern Islamic world. However, the presence
Spanish Umayyads are the most likely patrons of this costly manuscript.
of abjad markers using the letter sad for the numerical value of 60 instead
Further luxurious Qur'an manuscripts such as the famous Blue Qur'an have
of the letter sin suggests that this manuscript was rather produced in the
been attributed at various points to Fatimid Qairouan and to other parts of
western Islamic world (Marcus Fraser and Will Kwiatkowski, Ink and Gold:
the Western Islamic world (Fraser, op.cit, p.46).
Masterpieces of Islamic Calligraphy, London, 2006, p.44).
Other sections from this Qur’an were sold at Christie’s, London, 26 April
The script style is closest to what François Déroche describes as group 'C.II'
2012, lot 55, 27 April 2017, lot 23, 2 May 2019, lot 2 and most recently 28
which is typified in this case by the smooth curved nun terminal (François
October 2020, lot 9.
Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition. The Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art,
London, 1992, p.153). The form of the final nun with its curved rather than
angular form and extended tail can be linked to the later development of the
distinctive curved nun shape found in maghribi script.

8 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.