Ottoman Koran and case

Ottoman Koran and case

Signed Al-Seyyed Mir Mohammad Akhî, dated 1260 H./ 1843

Complete manuscript in Arabic, on paper, in Naskî script, 15 lines per page in black ink with red highlights. Verses separated by golden circles, and accompanied in the margins by floral motifs marking juz, hizb and nisf are marked in the margins in red ink. Sura titles are inscribed in red ink on a white background within gilded bands. Attractive double-page frontispiece, richly illuminated with blue poly-lobed arcature margins on a gilded background and embellished with flowers. The last three suras are inscribed on an illuminated page, encircled by two flowery gilded rods, and on the margins by gilded circles with a flowery blue background, followed by the closing prayer of the Qur'an. Finished colophon in gilded triangle, with spandrels of polychrome flowers on a gilded background. It indicates the name of the copyist "Al-Seyyed Mir Mohammad Akhi, one of the pupils of Al-Haj [... the name is erased...]", and gives the date 1260 H./ 1843. Bound in brown leather, the outer boards painted in both golds with a composition of almond-shaped palms, and a fabric patterned with green mandorls trimmed with orange tulips, against a cream background pasted on the inner board. The manuscript is housed in a garnet-red leather slipcase embossed with gilded poly-lobed mandorla motifs in a gilded foliate frame over the opening. The interior is lined with red marbled paper, and the inside cover is covered with a red fabric with mandorla motifs, decorated with gilded tulips on a gilded background. (Wear to binding, restoration to inside cover, soiling). Manuscript size: 16.5 x 10.5 cm; case size: 19 x 12.5 cm Provenance: Private collection, Paris. An Ottoman Quran and its case, signed Al-Seyyed Mir Mohammad Akhi, dated 1260 H./1843