Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 3•
A large Qur'an with the text incised on interlinked palm leaves in a contemporary binding painted with the names of the Four Caliphs Southeast Asia, probably present-day Malaysia or Indonesia, dated AH 1331/AD 1912-13
21 April 2015, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £24,750 inc. premium
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A large Qur'an with the text incised on interlinked palm leaves in a contemporary binding painted with the names of the Four Caliphs
Southeast Asia, probably present-day Malaysia or Indonesia, dated AH 1331/AD 1912-13
Southeast Asia, probably present-day Malaysia or Indonesia, dated AH 1331/AD 1912-13
Arabic manuscript on palm leaves, 60 leaves, 16 individual rectangular strips to the page, each with two lines of text written in a slanting personal script in brown ink, the strips linked vertically with string at the edges and in the centre, verses marked with a dot within a circle, sura headings flanked by an X motif with a central roundel, the word juz outlined in red, contemporary binding and flap, covers consisting of 18 strips of palm leaf with painted central roundels incorporating the words al-Qur'an al-Karim, the Holy Qur'an, cornerpieces containing the names of the Four Caliphs Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman and 'Ali, in good condition
550 x 410 mm.
550 x 410 mm.
Footnotes
It is extremely rare to find manuscripts of the Qur'an incised on strips of palm leaf, primarily because of the fragility of the leaves. Although some of the reference books on Islamic manuscript production in Southeast Asia have mentioned the use of palm leaves in passing, the authors tend to concentrate on the other prevalent materials such as imported European and Chinese paper or a particular kind of paper used in Qur'an production called dluwang which was made from the beaten bark of the mulberry tree. Moreover, the lack of any illumination or a distinctive style of script in this manuscript makes it difficult to give a location to where it might have been produced. According to Annabel Teh Gallop, 'The Islamic world of maritime Southeast Asia encompasses the present-day territories of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, as well as the Southern parts of Thailand and the Philippines and the Cham enclaves of Cambodia and Vietnam. Although hundreds of different ethnic groups and languages are found in this region, it is often referred to as "the Malay world" in recognition of widespread cultural affinities rooted in the shared faith of Islam and the historic use of the Malay language as a lingua franca for purposes of trade, diplomacy and religious propaganda' (A. T. Gallop, 'The Art of the Qur'an in Southeast Asia', in World of God, Art of Man: the Qur'an and its Creative Expression, Oxford 2007, chapter 11, pp. 191–204.
An indication to where this manuscript might have been produced would be to find out which of the regions with Muslim communities in 'the Malay world', i.e. Terengganu, Patani, Java, Mindanao and Aceh, used palm leaves in the production of Qur'an manuscripts. In Indonesia palm-leaf manuscripts are called lontar, which is the modern form for the old Javanese rontal, a tree that belongs to the family of Palmyra palm trees (Borassus flabellifer) and that grows in both Java and Aceh where this Qur'an manuscript might have been produced.
For further reading, see Colin F. Baker, Qur'an Manuscripts: Calligraphy, Design, London 2007, pp. 90–94; James Bennett, Crescent Moon: Islamic Art & Civilisation in Southeast Asia, Adelaide 2005, pp. 159-189; Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh 2006, pp. 561–563; Lucien de Guise (ed.), The Message & the Monsoon: Islamic Art in Southeast Asia from the Collection of the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, 2005, pp. 40–77.