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Bound section (juz' 24) of a 30-volume Qur'an

'Abdallah ibn Ahmad ibn Fadlallah ibn 'Abd al-Hamid al-Qadi al-Qazvini

1339 A.D./ 739 A.H.

Object PlaceMaraghah, Iran

Medium/TechniqueInk, color and gold on paper; binding, leather

DimensionsLength x width: 31.3 x 22.7 cm (12 5/16 x 8 15/16 in.)

Credit LineHelen and Alice Colburn Fund

Accession number29.57

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsBooks and manuscripts

Collections

Description

This bound manuscript is one part (known as a "juz'") of a thirty-part Qur'an. Another section, juz' 13, is held by the MFA (29.58) and other known sections can be found in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin and the Ethnography Museum in Ankara. The calligrapher of this thirty-volume Qur'an was probably not a professional scribe, though he clearly had great skill. In the inscriptions ending each volume he repeatedly tells us his age (77) and gives his name, which includes the phrase al-Qadi or “judge” in Arabic. He relates that he copied out this Qurʾan in Maragha, a city in the hills of northwestern Iran. Perhaps he lived there and worked as a judge.

So much personal information, which is quite unusual in an inscription like this, may be a clue that the manuscript was undertaken by and for the calligrapher himself. If it was indeed undertaken for his own reasons and for his private use, he must have been a man of considerable means. The high quality of the illumination (the painted decoration on headings and in margins) indicates that he employed a skilled artist to work with him. Perhaps it was reaching his late seventies and contemplating his mortality that spurred him to undertake this elaborate and expensive pious endeavor.

InscriptionsSura 39 [az-Zumar, "The Companies"], middle of v. 36 to Sura 41 [Fuṣṣilat, "Distinguished"], v. 46. Colophon: made in the month of Safar in 739; made in Maraghah. ProvenanceMiss Elizabeth (Riefstahl) Titzel (b. 1889 - d. 1986), New York; 1929, sold by Miss Elizabeth (Riefstahl) Titzel to the MFA for $5000.00 (total price for 29.56-136). (Accession Date: January 3, 1929)