An Exceptional Copy of al-Jazuli’s Dala’il al-Khayrat

Location: Morocco

Materials: ink and opaque watercolour on paper; contemporary leather binding with stamped and gilded medallions

Dimensions: 223 folios; 23 x 18cm

Accession Number: MSS 1138

Other Notes:

This is a unique, extensively illuminated copy of al-Jazuli’s text, where the names Allah and Muhammad – when they fall at the beginning or end of a page of text – are written on separate, fully illuminated folios. There are also an illuminated opening page, a double-spread with the title of the work, numerous headings in the text. Folios 18b–19a have two diagrammatic drawings of al-Hujrah al-sharifah, with the tombs of the Prophet, of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, and al-Rawdah al-mutahharah, with the mihrab and minbar of the Prophet, at the mosque in Medina. There is also a depiction of the sandal of the Prophet on folios 44b–45a.

The manuscript was bound in with a copy of al-Busiri’s Qasidat al-burdah a number of other prayers and texts from various sources.

Script:

copied in maghribi script; 10 lines to the page