Qur'an Manuscript

This is a complete Qur'an manuscript probably produced in Egypt. It contains 383 folios of polished cream or salmon-colored paper with a leather binding embossed with star-formations. The codex has a double illuminated frontispace. The verso of the first folio includes the first chapter of the Qur'an, al-fatiha ("The opening [of the Book]"), and the recto of the second folio includes the beginning of the second chapter, albaqara ("The Cow"). The chapter titles in the frontispieces are inscribed in a foliated Kufic script in cartouches set in frames of floral scrolls. In the upper cartouche of the first page we read: "Chapter of the Opening of the Book", and in the lower one: "[Composed by] seven verses and [revealed] at Mecca." In the upper cartouche of the second page we read: "[The sura] of the cow, [composed of] two hundred ..." and it continues in the lower cartouche: " ...and eighty and eight verses". The basic text layout in the following pages consists of three lines in muhaqqaq script on the top, in the middle and on the bottom of each page, with two sets of five lines written in a smaller naskhi script between them.

In the colophon of the manuscript the name of the original owner is inscribed: a certain lady by the name of Khatun bint Saljak [?]. Some parts of the colophon are erased; below it the date of the completion of the MS. is given as A.H. 868, corresponding to A. D. 1454.

Abdallah Kahil in [Walker et al. 1994]

Mrs. Silvana Aliati Elliot(until 1968; sold to MMA)

New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Celestial Pen: Islamic Calligraphy," September 28, 1982–February 7, 1983, no catalogue.

Mexico City. Colegio de San Ildefonso. "Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York," September 30, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 5.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daniel S. Walker, Arturo Ponce Guadián, Sussan Babaie, Stefano Carboni, Aimee Froom, Marie Lukens Swietochowski, Tomoko Masuya, Annie Christine Daskalakis-Matthews, Abdallah Kahil, and Rochelle Kessler. "Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994–Enero de 1995." In Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994. no. 5, pp. 54–55, ill. (b/w).