Lot 1
Three vellum Qur'an leaves written in early kufic script with two illuminated sura headings Abbasid, late 8th/9th Century(3)
2 April 2009, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £7,200 inc. premium
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Find your local specialistThree vellum Qur'an leaves written in early kufic script with two illuminated sura headings
Abbasid, late 8th/9th Century
Abbasid, late 8th/9th Century
Arabic manuscript on vellum, 17 lines to the page written in an elegant dispersed kufic script in brown ink, red dots probably added at a later date, cluster of gold dots on square-shaped markers between verses, two bands decorated with a knotted rope motif in gold and some colour, two illuminated circular devices extending into the outer border, sura headings written in kufic script in red outlined with gold, waterstaining affecting text, trimmed, some tears with loss of parts of words, creased, framed
175 x 215 mm.(3)
175 x 215 mm.(3)
Footnotes
The style of script compares closely to that of three leaves from North Africa or the Near East, dated 9th/10th Century, sold at Sotheby's, 29th April 1998, lots 7-9. The illuminated bands with the knotted rope motifs and the placement of the sura headings above the decorated area are reminiscent of headings executed in the late Umayyad and early Abbasid transitional period: see an early Qur'an leaf, probably Damascus, mid-8th Century, sold at Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 8th October 2008, lot 1.