Arabic manuscript on gold-speckled paper, 318ff. plus three flyleaves, each folio with 12ll. of black naskh, with gold and polychrome rosette verse markers, red reading marks, the illumination dating to 16th century Shiraz, sura headings in white naskh over gold ground with floral scrolls within polychrome illuminated cartouches, text within gold and polychrome rules, with polychrome illuminated marginal markers of various shapes, opening bifolio with two heavily illuminated shamsas with Qur'an XVII, sura al-isra', v.88 in white naskh over gold ground, the following bifolio with carpet page illumination surrounding sura al-fatiha within cusped illuminated medallions, the following bifolio with heavily illuminated headpiece and text within cloudbands on gold ground, last folio with prayers heavily illuminated, added signature of 'Abdullah Tabbakh, in later gilt stamped morocco, some folios loose in binding, repairs, areas of waterstaining

Text panel 8 x 4³⁄₄in. (20.5 x 12.4cm.); folio 13¹⁄₄ x 8³⁄₄in. (33.5 x 22cm.)

Christie's, King Street, 13 April 2010, lot 120

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Lot Essay

Such is the elegance of the script in this Qur'an, that its later attribution to the renowned calligrapher 'Abdullah Tabbakh is unsurprising. The lavishly illuminated frontispiece and shamsa demonstrate the height of illumination in Safavid Shiraz, and are closely comparable to two manuscripts in the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum, Istanbul (1400. Yilinda Kur’an-I Kerim, 2012, cat.83, pp.328-329, cat.84, pp.330-331). The elegant gold petals that surround the six-pointed star of lapis lazuli in the opening shamsa is typical of Shirazi Qur'ans of this period.

A further similarly illuminated Shirazi Qur'an was sold in these Rooms, 25 October 2018, lot 109.