Lot 7
£2,268
Auction: Islamic Art | Lots 1 to 66 | 12 June at 10am
Arabic manuscript on polished wove paper, 155 folios, 21 lines to the page written in black naskh script, opening bi-folium with elaborate illuminated floral border in gold and coloured pigments, the outer panel (in gold) pricked with repeating trefoil pattern, the scribe's colophon within almond-shaped panel within border of blue arabesques on gold ground, each remaining page with decorative border comprising single red rule enclosing thick-and-thin frames in gold, sura-headings in red riq'a script with polychromatic foliate motif on gold ground either side, rubricated recitation markings throughout, decorative aya-markings throughout, all in gold heightened with small dots in red, white and blue, polychromatic arabesque juz'-markings to fore margins, contemporary dark red morocco binding with elaborate arabesque filigree decoration, spine renewed, ff. [112-114] (containing parts of Ya Sin, Sad, and al-Saffat, in that order) each with lower section torn away, ff. [119-each 21] each with small tear to foot of gutter not affecting text, colophon leaf with old repair to lower margin, a few smudges and marks elsewhere
Folio 18.3 x 11cm (7 ¼in x 4 3/8in)
‘Umar al-Zuhdi describes himself in the colophon as a pupil of al-Hajj Sulayman Alusi. For other examples of Qur’ans copied by him see Christie's, Arts of Islam, 5 October 2012, lot 519, and Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 19 October 2016, lot 178.