Title: Bifolio from a Qur’an
Date: dated 969 AH (1561–2 AD)
Location: probably Cairo, Egypt
Materials: ink, gold and opaque watercolour on paper
Dimensions: 52 x 37cm
Accession Number: QUR 627
Other Notes:
Text: surah Fussilat (XLI), verse 51, to surah al-Shura (XLII), verse 13, and surah al-Dukhan (XLIV), verse 41, to surah al-Jathiyah (XLV), verse 11.
According to the colophon of the Qur’an from which the bifolio comes, the text was copied by Abu’l-Hasan al-‘Usayli al-Hanafi. The large format, bold scripts and the illumination are all in the tradition of fine 14th- and 15th-century Mamluk calligraphy and demonstrate the survival of these skills in the decades following the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1516.
Script:
copied in rayhan or muhaqqaq script, incidentals in thulth; 11 lines to the page
Bibliography:
D. James, After Timur. Qur’ans of the 15th and 16th Centuries, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume III, London 1992, cat.59, pp.238, 240–41.
J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.256, pp.220–21.
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