0750-0800 AD Quran folio, Surah 5: Verse 101 (part) through 106 (part), black & colored ink on parchment 333 x 400 reverse 5-verse marker alif
Folio from Quran, 750-800 AD (2nd century AH) (Syria? Yemen?)
Black, red and green ink on vellum
33.3 x 400 mm (leaf)
267 x 320 mm (text block)
A QUR'AN FOLIO, NORTH AFRICA OR THE NEAR EAST, LATE 8TH CENTURY
Qur'an manuscript leaf on vellum, with 16ll. of elegant black kufic with pronounced circular letters, diacritics indicated with black lines, vocalization of red and occasional green dots, verse endings marked with groups of three diagonal lines.
Roundel 10-verse marker on obverse, line 8
Alif 5-verse marker on reverse, line 8
According to a friend, the entire folio is from Surah 5: al-Ma'ida: The Table Spread With Food and starts with the last part of Verse 101 and runs through the first part of verse 106. Verses 101-105 address faith, with Allah (the Beneficent and Merciful) demanding believers give up their other faiths they've held onto out of tradition, but also forgives them for having done so. Verse 103 alludes to some of those traditions, which are similar to the Hindu practice of letting cows loose to wander freely. Verse 106 addresses appointing two good and pious men as executors of one's dying will.
Condition: Well... Top and bottom halves are completely separated horizontally and there's a vertical crease in the middle, suggesting the leaf was folded into quarters. Numerous other signs of wear. Text on both sides is complete but barely legible on obverse (pages are turned left to right). Tear and repairs (obverse) affect all of line 9 and the 10-verse marker, and some of lines 7 and 9. Remnants on obverse of tape used to hold top and bottom together at one time. The only mitigating factors are that descriptions of other leaves suggest similar horizontal tears, and even a leaf missing its last three lines was desirable, though that came from a famous collection.
Provenance: Acquired in 2018 from an Amsterdam antiques dealer retiring and selling off his eclectic stock (viz. paintings, prints, glass, nautical antiques, etc.). I had known him several years. When I asked him where he'd gotten this manuscript, he couldn't recall, but he had had it in storage since the 1980s.
As about 90 leaves appear extant, out of a conjectured 500-600 in the total text, my leaf has at least a 1 in 6 or 7 chance of following or preceding a known page.
Similar folios I have found online:
Two at LACMA - "Abbasid Caliphate, late 8th century"
(M.73.5.508) - collections.lacma.org/node/240038
(M.2002.1.383) - collections.lacma.org/node/204570 (white and green alif every 5 verses, roundel every 10)
One at Brooklyn Museum - Abbasid / 8th-9th century (same white and green alif every 5 verses, roundel every 10, as LACMA)
(1995.186 ) www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/154555
One at Bonhams - Sale 25 April 2017, 11:00 BST - late 8th century - early 9th century AD (Syria?)
www.bonhams.com/auctions/24197/lot/3/?category=list - (Roundel, no alif)
One at Ashmolean - late 8th century - early 9th century AD - Roundel, no alif
jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/8/per_page/25/offse...
Three individual leaves and an incredible bonanza of 76 leaves, at Christies:
Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, 2019 (76 leaves)
A SUBSTANTIAL GROUP OF LARGE KUFIC QUR’AN LEAVES
LATE UMAYYAD OR EARLY ABBASID, PROBABLY DAMASCUS OR JERUSALEM, MID-8TH CENTURY
www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6229646
The Saeed Motamed Collection - Part I, London, South Kensington, 22 April 2013
Lot 38 - A LARGE KUFIC QUR'AN FOLIO - NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, LATE 8TH CENTURY (Roundel, no alif)
www.christies.com/lotfinder/books-manuscripts/a-large-kuf...
Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, London, 5 October 2010
Lot 53 - A KUFIC QUR'AN FOLIO - NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, END OF THE 8TH CENTURY (Roundel, no alif)
www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-kufic-quran-folio-near-...
Indian & Islamic Works of Art, London, South Kensington, 26 October 2007
Lot 257 - A QUR'AN FOLIO, NORTH AFRICA OR THE NEAR EAST, LATE 8TH CENTURY (Dire condition, missing top line and most of bottom line; roundel, no alif)
www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-quran-folio-north-afric...
Two lots (1 & 5) at Sothebys London, in 2019: THE SHAKERINE COLLECTION: Calligraphy in Qur’ans and other Manuscripts, 23 October 2019:
www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/the-shakerine-collec...
All of these match this item in the Khalili Collection, in page size, text size, style, number of lines, and ornamentation:
Francois Deroche, The Abbasid Tradition: Qurans in the 8th to 10th Centuries - The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London 1992, pp. 120-123, no. 66.
0750-0800 AD Quran folio, Surah 5: Verse 101 (part) through 106 (part), black & colored ink on parchment 333 x 400 reverse 5-verse marker alif
Folio from Quran, 750-800 AD (2nd century AH) (Syria? Yemen?)
Black, red and green ink on vellum
33.3 x 400 mm (leaf)
267 x 320 mm (text block)
A QUR'AN FOLIO, NORTH AFRICA OR THE NEAR EAST, LATE 8TH CENTURY
Qur'an manuscript leaf on vellum, with 16ll. of elegant black kufic with pronounced circular letters, diacritics indicated with black lines, vocalization of red and occasional green dots, verse endings marked with groups of three diagonal lines.
Roundel 10-verse marker on obverse, line 8
Alif 5-verse marker on reverse, line 8
According to a friend, the entire folio is from Surah 5: al-Ma'ida: The Table Spread With Food and starts with the last part of Verse 101 and runs through the first part of verse 106. Verses 101-105 address faith, with Allah (the Beneficent and Merciful) demanding believers give up their other faiths they've held onto out of tradition, but also forgives them for having done so. Verse 103 alludes to some of those traditions, which are similar to the Hindu practice of letting cows loose to wander freely. Verse 106 addresses appointing two good and pious men as executors of one's dying will.
Condition: Well... Top and bottom halves are completely separated horizontally and there's a vertical crease in the middle, suggesting the leaf was folded into quarters. Numerous other signs of wear. Text on both sides is complete but barely legible on obverse (pages are turned left to right). Tear and repairs (obverse) affect all of line 9 and the 10-verse marker, and some of lines 7 and 9. Remnants on obverse of tape used to hold top and bottom together at one time. The only mitigating factors are that descriptions of other leaves suggest similar horizontal tears, and even a leaf missing its last three lines was desirable, though that came from a famous collection.
Provenance: Acquired in 2018 from an Amsterdam antiques dealer retiring and selling off his eclectic stock (viz. paintings, prints, glass, nautical antiques, etc.). I had known him several years. When I asked him where he'd gotten this manuscript, he couldn't recall, but he had had it in storage since the 1980s.
As about 90 leaves appear extant, out of a conjectured 500-600 in the total text, my leaf has at least a 1 in 6 or 7 chance of following or preceding a known page.
Similar folios I have found online:
Two at LACMA - "Abbasid Caliphate, late 8th century"
(M.73.5.508) - collections.lacma.org/node/240038
(M.2002.1.383) - collections.lacma.org/node/204570 (white and green alif every 5 verses, roundel every 10)
One at Brooklyn Museum - Abbasid / 8th-9th century (same white and green alif every 5 verses, roundel every 10, as LACMA)
(1995.186 ) www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/154555
One at Bonhams - Sale 25 April 2017, 11:00 BST - late 8th century - early 9th century AD (Syria?)
www.bonhams.com/auctions/24197/lot/3/?category=list - (Roundel, no alif)
One at Ashmolean - late 8th century - early 9th century AD - Roundel, no alif
jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/8/per_page/25/offse...
Three individual leaves and an incredible bonanza of 76 leaves, at Christies:
Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, 2019 (76 leaves)
A SUBSTANTIAL GROUP OF LARGE KUFIC QUR’AN LEAVES
LATE UMAYYAD OR EARLY ABBASID, PROBABLY DAMASCUS OR JERUSALEM, MID-8TH CENTURY
www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6229646
The Saeed Motamed Collection - Part I, London, South Kensington, 22 April 2013
Lot 38 - A LARGE KUFIC QUR'AN FOLIO - NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, LATE 8TH CENTURY (Roundel, no alif)
www.christies.com/lotfinder/books-manuscripts/a-large-kuf...
Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, London, 5 October 2010
Lot 53 - A KUFIC QUR'AN FOLIO - NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, END OF THE 8TH CENTURY (Roundel, no alif)
www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-kufic-quran-folio-near-...
Indian & Islamic Works of Art, London, South Kensington, 26 October 2007
Lot 257 - A QUR'AN FOLIO, NORTH AFRICA OR THE NEAR EAST, LATE 8TH CENTURY (Dire condition, missing top line and most of bottom line; roundel, no alif)
www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-quran-folio-north-afric...
Two lots (1 & 5) at Sothebys London, in 2019: THE SHAKERINE COLLECTION: Calligraphy in Qur’ans and other Manuscripts, 23 October 2019:
www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/the-shakerine-collec...
All of these match this item in the Khalili Collection, in page size, text size, style, number of lines, and ornamentation:
Francois Deroche, The Abbasid Tradition: Qurans in the 8th to 10th Centuries - The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London 1992, pp. 120-123, no. 66.