Ahmad ibn al-Suhrawardi, the most gifted pupil of the celebrated calligrapher Yaqut al-Musta^csimi, teamed with the master illuminator Muhammad ibn Aybak to create one of the most splendid Qur’ans made for the Ilkhanid rulers. Now dispersed, this thirty-volume manuscript is known as the Anonymous Baghdad Qur’an, as the existing colophons do not reveal the name of the patron (it is, however, widely accepted that it was a royal commission). The page with three lines of superb muhaqqaq and kufic script in the illuminated cartouches reveals the names of the calligrapher, illuminator, date, and place of completion of the volume (Baghdad, 1308).

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