A MINIATURE SAFAVID QUR’AN
Iran, dated 1105 AH (1693 - 1694), signed Muhammad Ibrahim, the lacquer binding 19th century

Arabic manuscript on paper, 203ff., plus 4 fly leaves, 21ll. of black naskh to the folio, the shamsa medallion possibly added at a later stage contemporaneous with the Qajar binding, the opening bifolio with fine and elaborate polychrome and gold illumination, the subsequent bifolio and the last bifolio with elegant gold scrolling foliage in the margins, black diacritic marks, red intonation marks, gold verse markers, catchwords, marginal marks in gold and blue motifs, set within blue, black, gold, and green rules, the colophon signed Muhammad Ibrahim, and dated 1105 AH (1694), underneath it a cusped square cartouche in the style of an intaglio seal reading ‘Bande-ye Shah-e Velayat Ali Suleyman’ replicated in gold against a scrolling blue ground, with the date 1078 AH (1667) predating the colophon's date, possibly a later addition, in fine Qajar lacquer binding enhanced with gold floral grids on red ground, the lacquered endpapers with gold rules in elaborate European style on red, brown morocco spine, the text panel 8.6cm x 4.5cm, the folio 9.2cm x 6.5cm.

Provenance:

Bonhams London, 14 October 2004, lot 29