07- Mamluk Qur’an leaf Egypt Circa 1327
Ink, gold and opaque watercolour on paper 45 x 33.5 cm This leaf comes from a large, colourful Mamluk Qur’an in an impressive muhaqqaq hand, related in style and format to a group of Qur’ans dating from the 1330s (James 1988, nos. 15, 17, 18, 20). A leaf from the same manuscript sold by the bookseller Philip Duschnes in New York was published with the information that it came from a manuscript copied in 1327 by Ahmad ibn ‘Abdallah ibn al-Mansur Hashimi al-’Abbasi. While this is yet to be corroborated, the date is certainly plausible. Two leaves from the same manuscript are in the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection (Welch 1972, Vol. II, calligraphy 4, 4A, p. 11). Another leaf was in the Stuart Cary Welch Collection (Sotheby’s, 6th April 2011, lot 16). An inscription across the top of the page indicates that the Qur’an was once made a pious endowment (waqf). BIBLIOGRAPHY
David James, Qur’ans of the Mamluks, London, 1988. Anthony Welch & Stuart Cary Welch, Collection of Islamic Art, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, IV vols, Genva, 1972.
18