AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884 AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884

AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED SAFAVID QURAN (POSSIBLY SHIRAZ), SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY, WITH AN ADDITION SECTION IN THE QAJAR PERIOD, DATED RAJAB 1302 AH/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1884

Reference: ART3003202

Arabic manuscript on paper, 638 folios plus six fly-leaves (three in each side), each folio with 9 lines of strong black naskh, rosette verse markers, text within gold and polychrome rules, surah headings in gold thuluth on blue ground within gold illuminated cartouches, the text in clouds on gold ground. Opening page of illumination with a prayer in the central cartouche. In the golden squares with golden thuluth script in the border are the surahs of the Quran. Illuminated opening double page of text (al-Fatiha and opening of al-Baqarah). A page from a Quranic tafsir (exegesis), the Majma‘ al-Nurayn of Abu’l-Hasan al-Marandi, has been inserted between the two pages. The midpoint of the Quran (surah Maryam) is marked with an illuminated double-page. The text from surah Maryam through surah Ankabut is the oldest part of this Quran. The final double page of Quranic text with Quran 113 (surah al-Falaq) and 114 (surah al-Nas) is fully illuminated. Quran: 29.5 by 19 cm.
Text: 16.5 by 10 cm.

BINDING The lacquer binding of the manuscript also bears the name of Aqa Mirza Mahmud as well as the signature of the celebrated lacquer painter Fathullah Shirazi. For other works by this artist in a similar style, see below: British museum collection, object: W_1964-1218-6 Sothebys auction catalogue, 2012 arts of the Islamic world lot: 491 Muhammad ‘Ali ibn Mulla Ahmad Qari Isfahani In addition to the present manuscripts, Bayani lists a further Quran in the Golestan Palace Library in Tehran by this scribe, dated 1297 (Bayani 1363/1984, p. 1187). There also exists the possibility that this scribe is the same person as the famous Muhammad ‘Ali Isfahani, known as the Sultan of Scribes (Sultan al-Kuttab). This is suggested by the colophon in another Quran refurbished for Aqa Mirza Mahmud in which it is stated that the task was completed by the scribe Muhammad ‘Ali Isfahani Sultan al-Kuttab in 1306, see below: Bonhams auction catalogue, 19th April 2016 Islamic and Indian art lot: 18 While it is possible that there were two different scribes called Muhammad ‘Ali Isfahani working on refurbishing manuscripts for Aqa Mirza Mahmud in the first decade of the 14th century AH, it seems more likely that these were the same scribe. It is not clear when exactly in the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah that Muhammad ‘Ali received the title of Sultan al-Kuttab. Though Muhammad ‘Ali Isfahani was active as early as 1268, the first use of the title recorded by Bayani is a Quran dated 1314/ 1896-7 (Bayani 1363/1984, pp. 1185-6).