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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy

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Qur'anic Verses

ALTERNATE TITLE(S)
Koran (fragment), leaf no. 17

AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: unknown

CREATED/PUBLISHED
8th century

NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 25.1 (w) x 15.5 (h) cm

Script: Hijazi

This calligraphic fragment includes verses 53-54 of the 34th chapter of the Qur'an entitled Surat Saba' (Sheba), as well as the first ten verses of the 35th chapter of the Qur'an entitled Surat al-Fatir (The Originator). Surat al-Fatir is an early Meccan surah that deals with the mystery of creation and angels.

A verse marker in the shape of a red petalled flower appears at the end of the last two verses of Surat Saba' on the folio's recto. Immediately following the end of this surah appears the bismillah ("In the Name of God") of Surat al-Fatir. The surah's title and number of verses, typically given in a chapter heading, have been omitted in this Qur'an.

As the text on the recto has been executed on the hair side of the parchment, it is better preserved that the text on the verso, which has worn off substantially due to having been written on the flesh side of the parchment.

A red dot between verses 9 and 10 on the fragment's verso seems to have been added at a later date to facilitate the separation of ayahs. Furthermore, a reader seems to have found the script and the lack of diacritics difficult to read. For these reasons, the words al-mala'ika (the angels) and rusulan (messengers, in the accusative) have been inscribed in black ink immediately above the text line to which they correspond.

The text is executed in Hijazi 1 script in black ink at fifteen lines per page. This kind of script is typical of Qur'ans in the horizontal format produced during the 8th century (Déroche 1992, pp. 31-32, cat. no. 2).

SUBJECT
Arabic calligraphy
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
Hijazi
Arabic script calligraphy

MEDIUM
30.3 (w) x 21.6 (h) cm

CALL NUMBER
AL-17

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

DIGITAL ID
ascs 295
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.295

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