Sections of a Qur’an copied for Baghdadshah Khatun

Manuscript; Sections of a Qur’an copied for Baghdadshah Khatun; Arabic in black muhaqqaq script; 40 folios with a double-page frontispiece (fols. 2 verso, 3 recto), 2 medallions (fols. 2 recto, 40 verso); inscriptions on the flyleaf (folio 1 recto), endleaf (folio 40 verso); seals (folio 2 recto); standard page: one column, five lines of text, marginal medallions.
Binding: The manuscript is bound in sixteenth-century leather over paper pasteboards with gold block-stamped medallion and corner pieces on the exterior covers; the envelope flap has a surface and border identical to that on the upper and lower covers, and doublures are decorated with leather filigree over a blue-colored paper ground.

Maker(s)
Calligrapher: Ascribed to Sultan-Ali Qa'ini
Historical period(s)
Il-Khanid dynasty, Attributed to 1511-12 (917 A.H.)
Medium
Ink, color and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 36.5 x 24.8 cm (14 3/8 x 9 3/4 in)
Geography
Iran
Credit Line
Purchase — Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Accession Number
S1986.27
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Manuscript
Type

Manuscript

Keywords
Henri Vever collection, Il-Khanid dynasty (1256 - 1353), illumination, Iran, Islam, muhaqqaq script, Qur'an, WWII-era provenance
Provenance

From at least 1932
Indjoudjian Collection, Paris, France. [1]

To 1942
Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France. [2]

From 1942 to 1986
Family member, Paris and Boulogne, France, by inheritance from Henri Vever, Paris and Noyers, France. [3]

From 1986
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from a family member, Paris and Boulogne, France. [4]

Notes:

[1] The object is documented as having appeared in the Indjoudjian collection by at least December 19, 1932. See Susan Nemazee, "Appendix 7: Chart of Recent Provenance" in An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection, Glenn D. Lowry et al (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 399.

[2] See note 1.

[3] See the Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of the Henri Vever Collection of January 9, 1986, Collections Management Office.

[4] See note 3.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Indjoudjian Freres
Henri Vever 1854-1942
Francois Mautin French, born 1907

Description

Manuscript; Sections of a Qur'an copied for Baghdadshah Khatun; Arabic in black muhaqqaq script; 40 folios with a double-page frontispiece (fols. 2 verso, 3 recto), 2 medallions (fols. 2 recto, 40 verso); inscriptions on the flyleaf (folio 1 recto), endleaf (folio 40 verso); seals (folio 2 recto); standard page: one column, five lines of text, marginal medallions.
Binding: The manuscript is bound in sixteenth-century leather over paper pasteboards with gold block-stamped medallion and corner pieces on the exterior covers; the envelope flap has a surface and border identical to that on the upper and lower covers, and doublures are decorated with leather filigree over a blue-colored paper ground.

Inscription(s)

Fol. 1 recto (flyleaf): Men al-mujaradat Sultan- Ali Qa'ini Baghdad seneh saba' 'shr va tas'imaye.
"From the calligraphy of Sultan-Ali Qa'ini in Baghdad in the year[A.H.] 917 [A.D. 1511-12]."

In the upper right margins (folio 40 verso): [?] al-Hajj Ahmad Bostanchibashi asbagh seneh 1213.
"Was seen by al-Hajj Ahmad, the former bostancibasi [head of garden brigade] in the year [A.H.] 1213 [A.D. 1798-99]."
In the medallion (folio 40 verso): [?] lemullah al-'zimeh al-malekeh al-'adeleh al-mukarameh malake al-mulk [?] Baghdad Shah Khatun [?].
The great, just, noble lady, queen of queens, Baghdadshah Khatun, profited from reading this book.

Published References
  • Collection de Indjoudjian: Arts du Proche-Orient des grandes epoques. Paris. cat. 130.
  • Glenn D. Lowry, Milo Cleveland Beach, Elisabeth West FitzHugh, Susan Nemanzee, Janet Snyder. An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection. Washington and Seattle. cat. 5, pp. 17-18.
  • Sacred Beauty: A Millennium of Religious Art, 600-1600. Exh. cat. Knoxville, Tennessee. pp. 20-23.
  • Glenn D. Lowry, Susan Nemanzee. A Jeweler's Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection. Washington and Seattle. p. 50, fig. 20.
Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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