قرآن

Walters Ms. W.559, Koran

Walters Ms. W.559, Koran

al-Qurʾān

القرآن

Mubārakshāh ibn Quṭb (scribe)

This illuminated copy of the Qur’an was excecuted in Shaʿbān 723 AH / 1323 CE by Mubārakshāh ibn Quṭb, honored with the epithet zarrīn qalam (golden pen). Mubārakshāh ibn Quṭb was one of the six pupils of the illustrious calligrapher Yāqūt al-Mustaʿṣimī (d. 698 AH / 1298 CE). This manuscript, with a colophon signed and dated by Mubārakshāh (fol. 432a), was produced in Ilkhanid, Iran. It opens with a double-page illuminated frontispiece of geometric design painted in blue, black, gold, and green (fols. 1b-2a). Additional ornamentation includes verse markers and textual dividers. The Qur'anic text is written in naskh script in black ink with chapter headings in gold tawqī‘ outlined in black. The Persian interlinear translation in red naskh likely belongs to a later stage of the manuscript's history, when it was rebound and furnished with new margins. The black goatskin binding has a gold-tooled design of a central lobed medallion, pendants, and cornerpieces with doublures of brown leather and filigree decoration. It probably dates to the tenth century AH / sixteenth CE. For full description, see http://www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W559/description.html

The primary language in this manuscript is Arabic. The secondary language of this manuscript is Persian.

Double-page frontispiece (fols. 1b-2a); double-page opening decoration (fols. 2b-3a); illuminated rosettes with colored dots for verse markers; frequent marginal medallions for verse counts of ten and textual dividers, such as juzʾ and rubʿ; polychrome frame

fol. 1b Right side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece Frontispiece This double-page illuminated frontispiece is comprised of two rectangles surrounded by a trefoil border in grisaille. The inner border is gold strapwork with blue squares. The central area is an intricate design of geometric forms and arabesques in blue, black, gold, and green.

fol. 2a Left side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece Frontispiece This double-page illuminated frontispiece is comprised of two rectangles surrounded by a trefoil border in grisaille. The inner border is gold strapwork with blue squares. The central area is an intricate design of geometric forms and arabesques in blue, black, gold, and green.

fol. 2b Incipit page for chapter 1 of the Qur'an Incipit This opening page is inscribed with the first chapter of the Qur'an (Sūrat al-fātiḥah). The Qur'anic text is written in black naskh, and the Persian interlinear translation is in red.

fol. 3a Initial verses of chapter 2 of the Qur'an Text page This text page is the beginning of Sūrat al-baqarah. The black naskh is the Qur'anic text and the text in red is the interlinear Persian translation.

Shaʿbān 723 AH / 1323 CE

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Arabic

No other languages recorded.

paper

image/jpeg

1323

All Walters manuscript images and descriptions provided here are copyrighted © The Walters Art Museum.