Bi-feuillet de Coran mamluke

Bi-feuillet de Coran mamluke

Egypt, Cairo, late 14th century.

Richly illuminated Arabic manuscript on buff paper, calligraphed with seven lines of text in black ink, the first and last lines in very fine strong muhaqqaq, the others in thuluth, with verse markers in elegant gold and polychrome rosette and illuminated marginal medallions marking the divisions of the text. Sight: 35 x 52 cm These pages correspond to the caesura marking the 27th Juz (or volume) of a 30-section Koran. The right-hand page includes the end of Sura L. v.40-45, the last word of which is inscribed in an oval. At the bottom of the page, the illuminated cartouche with red background indicates the title of Sura LI, as well as the number of its verses. The left-hand page, which was paired with another, marks the beginning of volume 27; the text, inscribed in reserve in cloudy cartouches on a background adorned with elegant spiral arabesques, runs from the middle of verse 37 to the beginning of verse 42 of Sura LI. In the cartouche at the top of the text of this last page is the inscription: "[Volume 27] of 30 volumes" and in the lower cartouche the Qur'anic inscription: [ Glory be to God] Lord of the worlds". On the reverse, the pages contain the text of Sura 51, verses 42-48 and Sura 50, verses 36-39. The elegant Muhaqqaq calligraphy of the text on these pages and the sophisticated ornamental embellishment point to a Qur'an commissioned by a high-ranking Mamluk dignitary. Provenance : Jean-Charles Tauzin Collection (1889-1957) A Mamluk Quran bi-folio, Egypt, Cairo, late 14th century