Title: Qur’an Folio (9th Century) in Mashq | صفحة من المصحف من قرن التاسع ميلادي بمشق
Scribe: Unknown | مجهول
Script: Kufic (Early Abbasid: D.I)
Date: ~ 3rd Century Hijri [183H to 286H] / 9th Century CE (800CE-900CE)
Size: 21.5 X 14.5 CM
Folios: 1 Fol.
Description: 6 Lines/Page | High Quality White Parchment |Black ink with Hamza denoted with a green dot (Nuqtah) and red Nuqat (dots) denoting the Nuqat al I’raab (نقط الاعراب) | Gold roundels with petal design- dots in each petals (fleurons), similar to 3.1.4 of Déroche’s notation (1992, pg. 23)| Some parts of the parchment are stained yellow due to age and two of the corners are cut |
Part of verse 131 to part of verse 135 of Surat al An’aam:
Incipit: لَمْ يَكُنْ رَبُّكَ مُهْلِكَ الْقُرَى بِظُلْمٍ وَأَهْلُهَا غَافِلُون
Explicit: قُلْ يَاقَوْمِ اعْمَلُوا عَلَى مَكَانَتِكُمْ إِنِّي عَامِلٌ
Provenance: A Private Collection from the U.K.
Research Notes: The script of this folio matches the D.I form of the Early Abbassi script as described by Deroche (1992,p.44) with the exception of the ط/ظ form that has a stem shape that resembles the ك in its initial form. The elongation (Mashq) of the script is a common practice in the 3rd/9th century. This folio bears a strong resemblence to the script of a larger folio in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (KFQ68),which is the D.I style. Déroche (1992, pg. 69) notes that this folio (KFQ68) demonstrates mastery of the calligraphic style of D.I in the 9th century. He mentions that only a limited number of Qur’anic manuscripts of this period achieved such beauty and precision in its script, and many of them were bequeathed to Masaajid. This current manuscript differs with KFQ68 in that it does not have any Nuqat al I’jaam (نقط الاعجام) where KFQ68 utilizes light strokes at the length of the letters to denote the nuqat al I’jaam. |
Folios of 9th century Qur’ans in elongated (Mash) Kufic have typically sold between $3,000 to upwards of $10,000. A very similar bifolium, possibly from the same Qur’an, sold at Christie’s Art of the Islamic & Indian Worlds (Sale 7959, Lot 15) on April 7, 2011 for $9,186. This bifolium is also from Surat al An’aam, covering verses 145 – 146; 159 to 162. The similarities, even in the damage of the folios leads me to believe that this folio is from the same Qur’an. The roundels in the Christie’s lot seems more worn or may be an indication that it’s not the same Qur’an. There have been numerous instances where Kufic Folios in Mashq have sold upwards of $80,000.
Accession #: Ms.120f