Enrica Medugno
Sale Coordinator
Property from the Shakerine Collection
Lot 22•
A large illuminated Mamluk Qur'an Egypt, 15th Century, with an apparently added colophon dated AH 876 AH/AD 1472
12 November 2024, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £23,040 inc. premium
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Oliver White
Head of Department
A large illuminated Mamluk Qur'an
Egypt, 15th Century, with an apparently added colophon dated AH 876 AH/AD 1472
Egypt, 15th Century, with an apparently added colophon dated AH 876 AH/AD 1472
Arabic manuscript on paper, 282 leaves, 12 lines to the page written in naskhi script in black ink, verse-endings marked by groups of three red inverted commas, sura headings written in riqa' script in red, f.1a with a blue and gold shamsa, ff.1b and 2a with an illuminated frontispiece, f.282a with the end of sura al-Nas and the colophon ruled in gold and interspersed by gold and polychrome rosettes, f.282b with a shamsa bearing an endowment note, leaves significantly trimmed throughout, modern red leather binding, with flap
355 x 310 mm.
355 x 310 mm.
Footnotes
Provenance
With G. Sarkovitch, Mount Street, London, 1984.
The Shakerine Collection.
Literature
N. Safwat, A Collector's Eye: Islamic calligraphy in Qur'ans and other manuscripts, London 2010, pp. 200-205, no. 49.
Accompanying the lot is a typewritten letter addressed to G. Sarkovitch, dated 25th May 1984, from H. J. Goodacre, Acting Head of the Arabic section in the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books at the British Library, in which he gives his opinion of the manuscript following inspection.
It is likely that this impressive manuscript of the Qur'an was copied during the reign of Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qaytbay (reg. 1468-96). It was under Qaytbay's patronage that numerous Qur'ans were copied and endowed to foundations. For a recent example see a monumental Qur'an dated AH 894/AD 1489, sold at Christie's, Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 2nd May 2019, lot 11.
The manuscript has an added colophon in a different and less accomplished hand, stating that it was copied by 'Abd al-Latif al-Sayfi Uzbak on Wednesday 13rd Shawwal 876/25th March 1472.
In the roundel at the beginning of the text, which is cut from a different manuscript, is a dedication to Uzbak, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief twice, once in Muharram 873/July-August 1466, again in AH 902/AD 1496-97, and who died on 24 Ramadan 904/5th May 1499. (See L. A. Mayer, Islamic Metalworkers and their Works, Geneva 1959, pp. 244-6). The hand in this roundel is of high quality, which would not appear to match with that of the main text and the colophon.