Loose-leaf, Single-volume Qur’an

Location: western Sudan

Materials: ink and opaque watercolour on European paper; wrap-around leather covers 

Dimensions: 528 folios; 22.8 x 16.2cm

Accession Number: QUR 109

Other Notes:

Typically, Sudanese Qur’ans are loose-leaf, and the binding, instead of being attached to the text block, is wrapped round it and secured by a leather thong. Surah headings are in red, and numerous marginal inscriptions, also in red, give, variously, alternative readings, instructions for recitation and information on the number of verses, words and letters in each surah. The volume is lavishly illuminated in a highly characteristic spectrum of yellow, dull red and black, with both full-page rectangles and marginal medallions of many different designs.

Script:

copied in the Sudanese form of maghribi script; 15 lines to the page

Bibliography:

S. Vernoit, Occidentalism. Islamic Art in the 19th Century, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume XXIII, London 1997, cat.26, pp.50–51.
M. Bayani, A. Contadini & T. Stanley, The Decorated Word. Qur’ans of the 17th to 19th Centuries, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume IV, Part One, London 1999, cat.7, pp.38–9.
J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.265, pp.230–31.