Middle East
10th century AD
ink, gold and watercolour on vellum
copied in Kufic script; 5 lines to the page
6.2 x 9.3 cm
The section has an illuminated frontispiece and finispiece. Both of these were probably double-page compositions, but only one half of each survives. Restoration has also altered the appearance of the manuscript to some extent. A frame has been drawn around the text, and catchwords in a cursive hand have been added. The loss of some folios left the text incomplete, and the lacunae were filled by writing the missing parts of the texts in the margins of the folios facing the lost leaves.
F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. I, London 1992, cat.59, pp.112–3.