Single-volume Qur’an

Location: Tabriz or Shiraz

Materials: ink, gold and opaque watercolours on paper; contemporary brown morocco covers with stamped medallion and pendants; doublures of black morocco with leather filigree on blue ground

Dimensions: 515 folios; 48 x 33cm

Accession Number: QUR 4

Other Notes:

The decoration of the outer cover, doublures and pages is similar to that of the surviving parts of a 30-part Qur’an in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin (MSS 1501–2) made in 1483 for Ya‘qub Beg, the Aqqoyunlu Turcoman ruler of Tabriz. The surah headings are in finely illuminated panels on a ground of spiral scrolls. Qur’ans of the Turcoman period, especially large ones such as this, are rare.

Script:

main text in muhaqqaq script, incidentals in thulth; 9 lines to the page

Bibliography:

D. James, After Timur. Qur’ans of the 15th and 16th Centuries, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume III, London 1992, cat.9, pp.42–5.
J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.171, p.147.