Lot 2
A KUFIC QUR'AN LEAF ON VELLUM
NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, 9TH/ 10TH CENTURY
Estimate: £6,000 - £8,000
Auction: 11 December 2024 from 10:00 GMT
Description
Arabic manuscript on vellum, seven lines to the page written in bold kufic script in black ink, vowel points marked with red dots, small pyramids of gold dots marking verses, a large medallion in gold marking the tenth verse, consisting of the word ashr in kufic script with concentric lobed cartouches, decorated with coloured dots, inscribed with later pagination (177 and 129 on recto, 178 and 89 on verso), mounted, glazed and framed
Dimensions
23.1cm x 32.5cm
Provenance
Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 24th April 2012, lot 1.
Footnote
Text: Sura LXXVI, ad-Dahr, Time, or al-Insan, Man, part of verse 9-part of verse 13.
This striking and fine leaf is one of several existent from the same Qur'an manuscript. One of its distinctive features is the horizontal stretching of the letters, known as mashq, regarded as the finest quality of calligraphy.
Further leaves from this Qur'an manuscript are in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran (inv. 4289; illustrated in M. Lings, The Qur'anic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, Westerham 1976, no. 5). Others have been offered at Christie's, Islamic Art and Manuscripts, 27th April 2004, lot 14; Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, Doha, 19th March 2009, lot 303; and more recently, Christie's, Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 6th October 2011, lots 1-3.
