Book of prayers

Manuscript; Book of prayers; Arabic in black naskh script, colophon in tawqi’ script; illuminated headings in white; 197 folios with 6 double-page illumination (fols.173-178 recto and 172-177 verso),1 sarlawh (folio 1 verso), 1 unwan (folio 10 verso); colophon (folio 195 recto); standard page: 1 column, 7 lines.
Binding: The manuscript is bound in leather over paper pasteboards with a gilt medallion, cornerpieces, and doublures of leather decorated with gilt. The envelop flap has a border and surface identical to that on the upper and lower covers.

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Maker(s)
Calligrapher: Sayyid-Ali al-Hamdi (Hafiz al-Qur'an)
Historical period(s)
Ottoman period, January 1715 (Muharram 1127 A.H.)
Medium
Ink, color and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 23.5 x 41.1 cm (9 1/4 x 16 3/16 in)
Geography
Turkey
Credit Line
Purchase — Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Accession Number
S1986.482
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Manuscript
Type

Manuscript

Keywords
Henri Vever collection, naskh script, Ottoman period (1307 - 1922), prayer, Turkey
Provenance

1899
Sale, Hôtel Drouot, in 1899 [1]

To 1942
Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France, to 1942 [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] "Unidentified Hôtel Drouot sale catalogue, 1899, no. 3," 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. 412.

[2] See Glenn D. Lowry et al., An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), pp. 27-28, no. 36.

[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)

Henri Vever 1854-1942
Francois Mautin 1907-2003

Description

Manuscript; Book of prayers; Arabic in black naskh script, colophon in tawqi' script; illuminated headings in white; 197 folios with 6 double-page illumination (fols.173-178 recto and 172-177 verso),1 sarlawh (folio 1 verso), 1 unwan (folio 10 verso); colophon (folio 195 recto); standard page: 1 column, 7 lines.
Binding: The manuscript is bound in leather over paper pasteboards with a gilt medallion, cornerpieces, and doublures of leather decorated with gilt. The envelop flap has a border and surface identical to that on the upper and lower covers.

Inscription(s)

Folio 195 recto: Written by the poor slave Sayyid-Ali al- Hamdi, known as Hafiz al-Qur'an, in the beginning of the holy month of Muharram in the year [A.H.] one thousand hundred and twenty-seven [A.D. January 1715].

Published References
  • 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. 36, p. 27.
Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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