A LOOSE KUFIC QUR'AN FOLIO
North Africa or Western Islamic Provinces, 9th - 10th century

Arabic manuscript on vellum, Sura al-Anbiya' (21), middle of v.94 to middle of v.108, 14ll. to the page of elegant Kufic script with frequent mashq (letter stretching), diacritics in red, triangular clusters of gold roundels as verse markers, gold khams and abjad markers, letter ending, mounted, glazed and in a double-sided frame, the folio 25cm x 34cm, 55.3cm x 39.2cm including frame.

Provenance: Christie's London, 26 October 2017, lot 55.

Showcasing more lines of text than most folios of this period, this example of Kufic Qur'an folio stands out for its elegant use of mashq or keshide (extension of the horizontal letters), achieving a great aesthetic effect. The complexity of arranging several lines on the page in an elegant layout together with the frequent use of mashq speak of a special private commission from a wealthy imperial patron, unconcerned with the material cost of gold and vellum entailed in the production of such a luxurious manuscript.

In the past, analogous Kufic folios have been attributed to Damascus and the Eastern Islamic world. However, the presence of abjad markers with the use of the letter sad, instead of the letter sin, for the numerical value of 60 suggests that this manuscript was produced in the Western Islamic world, most likely at one of the wealthiest Fatimid or Spanish Umayyad courts (M. Fraser and W. Kwiatkowski, Ink and Gold: Masterpieces of Islamic Calligraphy, 2006, pp. 44 - 46). Another very similar Kufic bifolio successfully sold at Christie's London, 26 April 2012, lot 55.