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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy

Qur'anic verses

AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: unknown

CREATED/PUBLISHED
14th-15th centuries

NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: Recto: 13.5 (w) x 18.5 (h) cm

Dimensions of Written Surface: Verso: 13.5 (w) x 19.5 (h) cm

Script: muhaqqaq

This calligraphic fragment includes verses 93-95 of the 6th chapter of the Qur'an entitled al-An'am (The Cattle). The text continues with verses 95-97 on the fragment's verso (1-89-154.184 V).

Surat al-An'am dates from the late Meccan period and consists of 165 verses. Verses 93-97 in particular stress man's capacity to comprehend God's majesty when faced with His creations:

It is God Who causes the seed grain and the date stone to split and sprout. / He causes the living to issue from the dead, / And He is the One to cause the dead to issue from the living (6:95).

The text is executed in large and clear muhaqqaq script in black ink on five lines per page typical of Ilkhanid (Iran) and Mamluk (Egypt and Syria) Qur'ans produced during the 14th and 15th centuries (James 1992a: 154-157, cat. no. 37 and James 1998, cat. nos. 35 and 39). Verse markers consist of six-petalled flowers decorated by a square gold leaf and blue and red dots. In the lower left margin appears a juz' (section) marker. It consists of a disk decorated with gold ornamental motifs and inscribed in blue ink with the word rub' (fourth).

SUBJECT
Muhaqqaq
Arabic calligraphy
Qur'anic verses
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
Arabic script calligraphy

MEDIUM
20.1 (w) x 30.1 (h) cm

CALL NUMBER
1-89-154.184

REPOSITORY
Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division, Washington, D.C. 20540

DIGITAL ID
ascs 230
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.230

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