Qur’an Manuscripts: The Breadth of Islamic Calligraphy

For Muslims, the Quran constitutes the very word of God. Transcribing the word of God in a clear and elegant way has made calligraphy the oldest and probably the most revered of the arts of Islam. Some see it as really the epitome, I think, of Islamic art. This folio comes from one of the most important early Qurans that we know today. The calligraphy is copied in gold outlined by red in a really beautiful kufik script. There is ongoing debate as to the precise attribution but it seems generally accepted that it was copied in the 9th century in Kairouan in Tunisia. These little roundels, which would have marked every verse of the Quran, would have originally been a very sparkling silver and the whole thing would have been even more lavish than it appears today. These two Qurans were copied in the Sadian period in Morocco, that's the mid-16th and early 17th century, in a style of script known as Maghrabi. It's typified by these very distinctive downwards loops which are really bold and very much used just in that area. One of the nice things is they both give the names, in fact, of the patrons who commissioned them and show that there was a real interest in the production of luxurious Quran manuscripts at that period. This impressive piece is a line from what would have been a monumental Quran. It's known as the Basongur Quran because it was originally supposed that it was copied by the Timurid ruler Basongur, who was the grandson of Timur. What seems most likely, in fact, is that it was completed by a scribe called Omar Akhtar, who was a famous calligrapher of the time. It would have had 800 bifolios, I think, originally, so it's really unlike anything else that's been produced either before or since. In contrast to the last, here the scribe has shown a real dexterity by trying to make the text as small as he possibly can. It's really quite remarkable when you think that in about 30 pages the scribe has managed to copy the entire Quran with an amazing attention to detail and a real skill at the hand. It has a date and the name of the scribe in the colophon at the end, but it also has its original lacquer binding, which is a very nice feature. This is a Quran copied in the Safavid period in the city of Shiraz. It's beautifully illuminated, you have this double page shamsa, and then the Quran starts on this bifolio with Surat al-Fatiha. It's copied in two different scripts on paper that's been prepared by being gold sprinkled, so really it's the most lavish of commissions and you can imagine it would only really have been made for a very illustrious patron. The group that we have demonstrates the evolution of the copying of the Quran. Aesthetically they are very beautiful. It's a real range both calligraphic and in terms of illumination.