Rare Qur’an Folio In Maghribi Script With Gold Surah Heading

Project Details

Rare Qur’an Folio In Maghribi Script With Gold Surah Heading

Morocco
13^th Century
Dimensions: 27.2 x 26.4 cm.
Sepia, blue, red ink and gold on vellum.

Folio in square format, inscribed on both sides with seven lines, in maghribi script in sepia ink, diacritics and vocalization in red, blue and gold. The verses separated by gold and polychrome illuminated motifs in various rosettes, palms, and marginal illuminations marking the divisions of the text. The surah title inscribed in gold letters in kufic script with a marginal medallion illuminated with palmettes in the extension.

The Text:

The Qur’an, Surah al-Balad, verses: (end of) 19 and 20. Followed by Surah al-Shams verses: 1-3 and -on the reverse- Surah al-Shams verses: 3-10.

Translation:

“… In the name of God, the lord of mercy, the giver of mercy. By the sun in its morning brightness and by the moon as it follows it, by the day as it displays the sun’s glory, and by the night as it conceals it, by the sky and how He built it, and by the earth and how He spread it, by the soul and how He formed it, and inspired it [to know] its own rebellion and piety. The one who purifies his soul succeeds.” The Qur’an, translated by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 423

The large curves of the free-flowing maghribi script bring lightness while retaining an aspect of solemnity from the formal, majestic kufic. Calligraphy in the western part of the Islamic world was not regulated by the same rules regulated in the east. The fourteenth century historian Ibn Khaldun informs us that calligraphers from the Maghrib were trained to write whole words rather than separate letters, as was the tradition in the east. They retained a freedom of interpretation while seeking an overall balance on the page through intrinsic awareness of proportion. For further discussion please see, From Cordoba to Samarqand – Masterpieces from the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Musée du Louvre Editions, 5 Continents, 2006, p. 162.

A folio from the same Qur’an is published in the exhibition catalogue, The Unity of Islamic Art, The King Faisal Foundation, Westerham Press, 1985, No. 11, p. 28.

Categories: Calligraphy & Miniatures
Credits: Ex-Private French Collection, Paris, formed between 1975-2000.

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Rare Qur’an Folio In Maghribi Script With Gold Surah Heading

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