A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY

A HIGHLY ILLUMINATED QURAN BY THE MASTER CALLIGRAPHER DOST MUHAMMAD BUKHARI, 16TH CENTURY

Reference: ART3004194

A complete Quran, Arabic manuscript on cream paper, 356 leaves, each page with 12 lines of black naskh script, tajwid in red, within gold and blue rules, gold and polychrome roundel verse markers outlined in black with polychrome dots, surah headings in gold thuluth on gold illuminated panels, gold and polychrome marginal medallions indicating the 'Hizb, Nisf and Ruba Hizb, and Aushr'. Further marginal square shapes with Juz notes in gold on a blue ground.
Two opening biofolioa heavily with gilt and blue decoration framing 7 lines of black naskh script.
Bound in full brown morocco binding, with a flap decorated with gilt arabesque floral design around a central medallion.
26 by 16 cm.

CATALOGUE NOTE
The last page signed by 'written by the master calligrapher Dost Muhammad Bukhari', mentioning in du’a al-khatm (prayer for completing the Quran) that it was written for a particular sufi (mystic) order known as (al-`Aliyya") and that he wrote it in the city of Medina, probably during his pilgrimage to Mecca. He also mentioned that this particular Quran was his 24th one and that he hoped to write 100 or more Qurans.
The Quran is not dated. However, a similar Quran is mentioned by B. W. Robinson in his work 'Islamic Painting and the Arts of the Book', where he dated the Quran as 1534 AD. It is safe, therefore, to say that the present Quran was written around 1550 AD.