Qur’an

Manuscript; a selection (juz’) of Qur’an; Arabic in black “eastern kufic (New Style)” script with several folios in naskhi script; gold headings with palmettes extending into the margin; vocalized in green and red; 241 folios, three unbound folios (frontispiece and fol. 1), verse markers, roundels; palmettes; standard page: one column, 10 lines of text.
Border: the manuscript is bound in brown leather over paper pasteboards with blind tooling; the lower and upper cover both have a border of multiple fillets; the envelop flap has a gold medallion at the tip of the flap.

View right to left

Historical period(s)
12th century
Medium
Ink, color and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 31.3 x 20.1 cm (12 5/16 x 7 15/16 in)
Geography
Iran
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1937.46.1-249a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Manuscript
Type

Manuscript

Keywords
eastern kufic script, illumination, Iran, Islam, Qur'an
Provenance

To 1937
Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962), New York. [1]

From 1937
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Hagop Kevorkian, New York. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Hagop Kevorkian 1872-1962

Description

Manuscript; a selection (juz') of Qur'an; Arabic in black "eastern kufic (New Style)" script with several folios in naskhi script; gold headings with palmettes extending into the margin; vocalized in green and red; 241 folios, three unbound folios (frontispiece and fol. 1), verse markers, roundels; palmettes; standard page: one column, 10 lines of text.
Border: the manuscript is bound in brown leather over paper pasteboards with blind tooling; the lower and upper cover both have a border of multiple fillets; the envelop flap has a gold medallion at the tip of the flap.

Inscription(s)

Frontispiece, "The Koran is God's word uncreated, and he who claims that it is created is an infidel, by God."

Label

By the twelfth century a number of regional kufic styles, each with its own distinct ornamental features, developed throughout the Islamic world. This folio from a Qur'an is written in the "eastern" kufic script favored in Iran and Central Asia. Slender, elongated letters with certain flourishes predominate, and the vertical strokes often terminate in "barbed" heads. The development of this elegant and fluid script coincided with the widespread use of paper, which allowed for a greater degree of experimentation with size, format, and calligraphic styles.

The text is from the seventy-seventh chapter, entitled "Those Sent Forth" (Al-Mursalat), which describes the horrors of the hereafter for those who reject the truth.

Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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