Qur'an

Object Details

• Description

  Manuscript; a selection (juz') of Qur'an; Arabic in black "eastern kufic (New Style)" script with several folios in naskhi script; gold headings with palmettes extending into the margin; vocalized in green and red; 241 folios, three unbound folios (frontispiece and fol. 1), verse markers, roundels; palmettes; standard page: one column, 10 lines of text.

  Border: the manuscript is bound in brown leather over paper pasteboards with blind tooling; the lower and upper cover both have a border of multiple fillets; the envelop flap has a gold medallion at the tip of the flap.

• Inscriptions

  Frontispiece, "The Koran is God's word uncreated, and he who claims that it is created is an infidel, by God."

• Label

  By the twelfth century a number of regional kufic styles, each with its own distinct ornamental features, developed throughout the Islamic world. This folio from a Qur'an is written in the "eastern" kufic script favored in Iran and Central Asia. Slender, elongated letters with certain flourishes predominate, and the vertical strokes often terminate in "barbed" heads. The development of this elegant and fluid script coincided with the widespread use of paper, which allowed for a greater degree of experimentation with size, format, and calligraphic styles.

  The text is from the seventy-seventh chapter, entitled "Those Sent Forth" (Al-Mursalat), which describes the horrors of the hereafter for those who reject the truth.

• Provenance

  To 1937

  Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962), New York. [1]

  From 1937

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Hagop Kevorkian, New York. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Engaging the Senses (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts (October 22, 2016 to February 20, 2017)

  Arts of the Islamic World (May 3, 1998 to January 3, 2016)

  Islamic Calligraphy (May 14, 1981 to June 24, 1982)

  Near Eastern Art--Calligraphy (August 18, 1967 to February 10, 1972)

  Near Eastern Art (January 1, 1963 to August 18, 1967)

  Islamic Art, Gallery 6A (July 22, 1958 to June 5, 1964)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962)

• Origin

  Iran

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Manuscript

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1100s, 1200s

• Name

  Kevorkian, Hagop

• Topic

  Art, Writing, Arts of the Islamic World, Illumination, Qur'an

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Language

  Arabic language

• Object Type

  Manuscripts