Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript

Two Leaves from a Koran

The so-called eastern Kufic, well represented by beautiful pages nos. 37.111.1 and .2, is one of the most striking styles of Arabic calligraphy. It evolved from tenth-century tendencies to increased attenuation and angularity, which in turn developed out of the classic ninth- and early tenth-century Kufic (see MMA 62.152.1; no. 2 in this catalogue). What it lacks of ninth-century dignity and gravity is compensated for by extraordinary elegance, refinement, and unitary visual impact. And while this more developed style brings an increased range of devices, such as gold diacriticals, diagonal vowels, and elaborate rosette-shaped verse markers, this variety of elements does not overcome the field. The paper still makes its presence felt, a palpable, earthy reality in counterpoint with the manifestaton of the divine world.

The text is the almost-complete verse 48 of Sura 30. The Byzantines: "God is He that looses the winds, that stir up clouds, and He spreads them in heaven how He will, and shatters them; then you seest the rain issuing out of the midst of them...."

Manuel Keene in [Berlin 1981]

Hagop Kevorkian, New York (until 1937; gifted to MMA)

Berlin. Museum für Islamische Kunst, Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the M.M.A.," June 15, 1981–August 8, 1981, no. 17.

"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 17, pp. 64–65, ill. p. 65 (b/w).

Karame, Alya. "In: The World Illuminated : Form and Function of Qur'anic Manuscripts from the Seventh to Seventeenth Centuries. Eds. Simon Rettig and Sana Mirza." In Ghaznavid Imperial Qur'an Manuscripts: The Shaping of a Local Style, edited by Simon Rettig, and Sana Mirza. Washington: Smithsonian Scholarly Press, 2022. The manuscript to which the folio belongs is described on p. 30, the Met folio is mentioned on footnote 28.