Quran Leaf Kufic Script, Used (2 results)

Matted. Condition: Good. Vellum leaf from Qur'an (18 by 23.5 cm). Text on verso and recto, 13 lines per page, in Kufic script penned in brown ink with some diacriticals in red. Darkening/mild staining, particularly at margins; several tiny perforations in text block (not impeding legibility). Good. Text from Surat al-Baqarah (The Cow), the second and longest chapter of the Qur'an. Among it many topics, the sura recounts the stories of Adam, Abraham, and Moses, enjoins fasting during the month of Ramadan, prohibits usury, and encourages the pagans and Jews of Medina to embrace Islam. The Kufic style of lettering originates as a "monumental script which may be said to have reached its fullness in the last half of the second century A.H. which ended in 815 A.D. This script is clearly the outcome of a deliberate aspiration, impelled by the consciousness of the need for a more hieratic form of lettering, a need that had prompted more than one attempt in the direction of sacred art. The form which finally succeeded and prevailed takes its name from the Iraqi town of Kufah which was one of the earliest centres of Islamic learning" (Lings). References: M. Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination (Boulder, 1978), p. 16.

Single leaf, illuminated manuscript on parchment, in Arabic, containing the text from Surah al-A'raf 7:16 - 7:27, size: 250 x 330mm approx (9¾ x 13 inches); single column, 14 lines black Kufic script per page, vocalisation in the form of red dots, individual verse divisions marked by three red dots in a triangular formation, fifth verse divisions marked with gold ha-shaped device, tenth division verse divisions marked with gold rosettes pointed in green and black, some restoration to the very outer edges of the parchment (not affecting text), very light surface soiling and light rubbing, overall an attractive leaf. The calligraphic style and format of the present leaf strongly indicate that it was produced in the 9th century during the Abbasid period, with similar characteristics to Kufic Qur'ans found in Cairo and Damascus. The present style of Kufic script is most comparable to the Dà roche D.IV with the strongly curved and independent nin and thick trumpet-like flourishes to the ends of the letters nun, waw and lam. For more on information see Dà roche, The Abbasid Tradition (London, 1992, pp. 36-37).