Folio from a Qur'an, sura 5:100-111

Object Details

• Description

  Detached folio from a dispersed copy of the Qur'an; recto: Sura al- Ma'ida (the Table spread) 5:100 -106, recto begins with "qul la yastawi"; verso: sura 5:106-110, and part of 111, verso begins with "la nashtari"; Arabic in gold muhaqqaq script outlined in black; marginal medallion containing the word "khams" (five) indicating the end of a fifth verse; marginal medallion containing the number "mi'a 'ashra" (one hundred-ten) indicating the number of the verse; inscribed illuminated roundel verse markers; vocalized in blue, letters for recitation and reading in red; one column; 11 lines of text; one of a group of 2 folios.

  Border: The text is set in gold, black and blue rulings on cream-colored paper.

• Provenance

  By 1939

  Kirkor Minassian, New York, method of acquisition unknown [1]

  From 1940

  National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, purchased from Kirkor Minassian, New York [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See object file for copy of Freer Gallery of Art examination record, indicating that Kirkor Minassian left the objects at the Freer for examination on March 8, 1939. See also Minassian’s letter to the Freer, dated March 10, 1939, confirming the objects which he has at the Freer for examination. This list includes “#1614a; 1913b [sic.]: Two large Koran pages, (left by me on March 8th).” In an August 26, 1941 letter to the Freer, Minassian amends the dealer numbers he assigned to these objects to “#1614a and 1614b, Two large Koran pages.” Copy in object file.

  Kirkor Minassian (1874-1944) was a collector and dealer in Islamic art and Near Eastern antiquities, with eponymous galleries in New York and Paris. In 1929, Minassian presented a group of objects to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., including a folio in Kufic script from an 8th-centur Qur’an and a collection of Sumerian clay tablets. Following his death, his wife Antoinette (1874-1961) and his daughter Adrienne (1913-1994), succeeded him in his business.

  [2] See object file for copy of Kirkor Minassian invoice to the Freer Gallery of Art, dated February 21, 1942, and approved by the Secretary of the Smithsonian November 22, 1939. This work is part of the Museum’s Freer Gallery of Art Collection.

  Research updated February 9, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Untitled Exhibition, Persian and Near Eastern Art (May 5, 1933 to September 24, 1947)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Kirkor Minassian (1874-1944)

• Origin

  Iran

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Manuscript

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1400s, 1300s

• Name

  Minassian, Kirkor

• Topic

  Art, Arts of the Islamic World, Qur'an, Il-Khanid dynasty (1256 - 1353), Sura 5

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Language

  Muhaqqaq script

• Object Type

  Manuscripts