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Walters Ms. W.569, Koran

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Shelf mark

W.569


Manuscript

Koran


Text title
al-Qurʾān

Vernacular: القرآن


Abstract

This illuminated copy of the Qur'an was produced in the eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE in Iran. Apart from using a number of scripts, such as naskh, muḥaqqaq, and tawqīʿ, the manuscript features six pairs of decorated pages; two illuminated headpieces; and chapter headings, interlinear illumination, and marginal decoration. The Qur'anic text begins on fol. 2b and ends on fol. 331a. It is followed by a prayer (duʿāʾ) and a table of divination (taf'ul) in Arabic and Persian (fols. 332b-333a).The black leather binding has a central piece in the form of a diamond with pendants on four sides. The inner boards, with their traditional dentelle decoration, feature text from the "verse of the throne" (āyat al-kursī), 2:255-6, which is inscribed in the outer frame.


Date

11th century AH / 17th CE


Origin

Iran


Form

Book


Genre

Devotional

Scriptural


Language:

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


Support material

Paper

Thick cream-colored, gold-flecked paper


Extent

Foliation: i+333+i


Dimensions

25.5 cm wide by 38.5 cm high


Written surface

12.0 cm wide by 21.0 cm high


Layout
  1. Columns: 1
  2. Ruled lines: 12
  3. Framing lines in green, orange, gold, black, sepia, and blue

Contents:
fols. 1b - 333a:
  1. Title: al-Qurʾān
  2. Text note: Text of Qur'an begins on fol. 2b and ends on fol. 331a, followed by a prayer (duʿāʾ) to be recited after the Qur'anic text and a table of divination (taf'ul) in Arabic and Persian (fols. 332b-333a)
  3. Hand note: Written mainly in naskh script; muḥaqqaq script in center medallions on fols. 2b-3a, 152b-153a, and 331b-332a; tawqīʿ script for chapter headings and other incidental inscriptions
  4. Decoration note: Six pairs of decorated pages (fols. 1b-2a, 2b-3a, 152b-153a, 331b-332a, and 332b-333a); two illuminated headpieces (fols. 3b and 154a); illuminated chapter headings; interlinear illumination; decorated borders; polychrome framing lines; marginal decorations and verse markers

Decoration:

fol. 1b:

  1. W.569, fol. 1b
  2. Title: Right side of an illuminated double-page frontispiece
  3. Form: Frontispiece

fol. 2a:

  1. W.569, fol. 2a
  2. Title: Left side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece
  3. Form: Frontispiece

fol. 2b:

  1. W.569, fol. 2b
  2. Title: Right side of a double-page opening inscribed with verses of chapter 1
  3. Form: Opening decoration
  4. Text: Chapter 1 (Sūrat al-fātiḥah)
  5. Label: This is the right side of a double-page opening decoration containing the text of chapter 1 (Sūrat al-fātiḥah) inscribed in the center medallion in gold muḥaqqaq script on a blue background.

fol. 3a:

  1. W.569, fol. 3a
  2. Title: Left side of a double-page opening inscribed with verses of chapter 1
  3. Form: Opening decoration
  4. Text: Chapter 1 (Sūrat al-fātiḥah)
  5. Label: This is the left side of a double-page opening decoration containing the text of chapter 1 (Sūrat al-fātiḥah) inscribed in the center medallion in gold muḥaqqaq script on a blue background.

fol. 3b:

  1. W.569, fol. 3b
  2. Title: Illuminated incipit page with headpiece
  3. Form: Incipit
  4. Text: Chapter 2 (Sūrat al-baqarah)
  5. Label: This illuminated incipit page introduces chapter 2 (Sūrat al-baqarah).

fol. 152b:

  1. W.569, fol. 152b
  2. Title: Illuminated page with verses from the end of chapter 17
  3. Form: Illuminated page; chapter heading
  4. Text: Chapter 17 (Sūrat Banī Isrāʾīl)
  5. Label: This illuminated page contains verses from the end of chapter 17 (Sūrat Banī Isrāʾīl) inscribed in the center medallion in white muḥaqqaq script.

fol. 153b:

  1. W.569, fol. 153b
  2. Title: Decorated incipit page with headpiece introducing chapter 18
  3. Form: Incipit
  4. Text: Chapter 18 (Sūrat al-kahf)
  5. Label: This is a decorated incipit page with an illuminated headpiece introducing chapter 18 (Sūrat al-kahf).

fol. 331b:

  1. W.569, fol. 331b
  2. Title: Right side of an illuminated finispiece with inscribed prayer
  3. Form: Finispiece
  4. Label: This richly decorated page contains a prayer to be recited at the end of the Qur'anic text. The prayer is inscribed in the center medallion in white muḥaqqaq script.

fol. 332b:

  1. W.569, fol. 332b
  2. Title: Right side of a double-page table of divination (bibliomancy or tafa'ul)
  3. Form: Finispiece
  4. Label: This is the right side of a table of divination (bibliomancy or tafa'ul) executed in Arabic in tawqīʿ script and in Persian in nastaʿlīq script. The top inscription reads: fī al-tafa<ʾ>ul min kalām Allāh al-Majīd.

fol. 333a:

  1. W.569, fol. 333a
  2. Title: Left side of a double-page table of divination (bibliomancy or tafa'ul)
  3. Form: Finispiece
  4. Label: This is the left side of a table of divination (bibliomancy or tafa'ul) executed in Arabic in tawqīʿ script and in Persian in nastaʿlīq script.

Binding

The binding is not original.

Black leather (with flap); upper board with a central piece in the form of a diamond with pendants on four sides; inner boards, with traditional dentelle decoration, feature text from the "verse of the throne" (āyat al-kursī), 2:255-6, inscribed in the outer frame


Acquisition

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest


Contributors

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara


Publisher

The Walters Art Museum


License

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.