Qur'an Manuscripts 205 items

Text and sūra title rubricated; gold roundels at end of each verse; pages bordered in red, black, and gold; pp. 5-8 illuminated in colors with gold; roundels in margins indicate divisions of text into 30 equal sections.

ḥayātī wa-baʻd wafātī fī yad awlādī al-dhukūr wa-baʻd al-inqirāḍ fī yad aqrabāʼī min al-dhukūr....

Date, copyist's name, name of source of copy, and conditions of inheritance of this item in colophon (beg. p. 612): ḥarrarahu ... al-sayyid Muḥammad Amīn al-Ṣafwatī ibn Aḥmad bi-ḥāfiẓ al-Qurʼān Nān Zādah ... qad waqaʻa al-farāgh fī al-yawm al-ʻasharah min Jumāzī al-ākhir li-sanat thalāth wa-sabʻīn wa-miʼatayn wa-alf [i.e. 5 February 1857] ... qad waqaftu hādhā al-muṣḥaf al-sharīf ibtighāʼan li-mirḍāt Allāh taʻālá bi-sharṭ an yūjad wa-yuḥfaẓ fī yadī mā dumtu fī

Illuminated ʻunwān on pp. [1-2]; chapter headings in gold; gold and polychrome roundels mark end of each verse; 30 subsections indicated in margins in gold script; text enclosed in borders of red, blue, black, and gold; edges gilded in pattern of green and gold gilt.

al-shaykh nādahu fī baladat Brūsā....

Date suggested by researcher, 14 May 1980: "Dated as late 16th or 17th century. Colophon evidently copied verbatim from earlier copy: date, place, scribe, everything. By: Muhammad Isa Waley, Dept. of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books, British Library." Date of original copy, copyist's name, and provenance in colophon: qad waqaʻa al-farāgh min taḥrīr hādhā al-kalām al-qadīr fī yawm al-thulāthā min shuhūr sanat ithnay wa-ʻishrūn wa-sabaʻmiʾah [i.e. 1322 or 3] ... ʻan yad Muṣṭafá Dahdah

Illuminated ʻunwān on pp. [1-2]; chapter headings illuminated in gold and colored inks; gold dots mark verse endings; text enclosed in borders of gold and black; illuminated foliate roundels in margins mark tenths (ʻushr), thirtieths (juzʼ), sixtieths (ḥizb) of text, and prostrations (sajdah); edges gilt.

Date and copyist's name in colophon: sawwadahu aḍʻaf al-ʻibād wa-aḥqaruhum Muṣṭafá ibn ʻAbd Allāh al-mushtahir bi-Ḥātimī al-mansūb li-marḥūm wa-maghfūr Ṣadrī Aʻẓam Naṣūḥ Pāshā ... wa-waqaʻa al-farāgh min taḥrīr hādhihi al-muṣḥaf al-karīm fī sanat ithnayn wa-thalāthīn wa-alf fī shahr Jumādhī al-ākhir [i.e. April 1623].

Pp. [722-32]: prayers in Arabic and instructions in Turkish for the reading of the Qurʼān.

Illuminated ʻunwān on pp. [1-2]; chapter headings illuminated in blue and gold; gold dots mark verse endings; text enclosed in gold and black bordres; tenths (ʻushr), thirtieths (juzʾ), and sixtieths (ḥizb) of text, and prostrations (sajdah), indicated in margins in gold ink; edges patterned in green and gold gilt; binding stamped in gold.

Date, copyist's name, and provenance in colophon: katabahu Ḥafiẓ Muḥammad ibn Qāsim al-mushtahir bi-al-Imām ... wa-waqaʻa al-farāgh min al-khidmah bi-tanmīqihi ... fī Dār al-Fatḥ Qusṭanṭīnīyah ... fī shahr Rabīʻ al-awwal min sanat sabaʻ wa-thalāthīn wa-alf min al-hijrah al-nabawīyah [i.e. November-December 1627]....

The Koranic text, followed by a prayer.

Illuminated ʻunwān on pp. [1-2]; chapter headings in gold rectangles; verse endings marked by gold dots; text enclosed within foliate borders, mainly in gold; thirtieths (juzʾ), quarters (rubʻ), thirds (thulth) and halves (nuṣf) of text indicated in margins by gold foliate roundels; gold lines separate lines of text.

Date of 17th cent. from cataloging of William Hoyt Worrell, 1925.

Illumination on pp. [1-2]; chapter headings illuminated; gold dots and foliate flourishes mark verse and chapter endings; text enclosed in wide gold borders; illuminated marginal rosettes mark thirtieths with (juzʼ) and quarters within each juzʼ with "ḥizb"; gilder's name at bottom of p. [522]: dhahhabahu Bahāʼ al-Dīn bin Tawfīq; edges gilded with foliate patterns; green leather endpages painted with gold and silver sunburst designs; binding gold-stamped and painted in silver and gold foliate designs.

Date and copyist's name on p. [518] at opening of closing invocation: qad tasharrafa bi-kitābat hādhihi al-muṣḥaf al-sharīf ... Kathīr al-Masāwī al-Būrdūrī Nūrī Ḥāfiẓ ʻUthmān al-mushtahar bi-Qāyish Zādah ... li-sanat khams wa-thalāthamiʼah wa-alf.

blue paper endpapers; red leather binding and slipcase stamped and painted in gold and silver.

Illumination on pp. [1-2]; chapter headings and colophons illuminated; verse endings marked with illuminated rosettes, each different; text enclosed in gold borders; illuminated rosettes in margins mark end of each juzʼ (1/30th); marginal indications in red for sixtieths (ḥizb or niṣf juzʼ) and 120ths (niṣf ḥizb) of text; rubricated marginal commentaries in hand of Muḥammad Khalūṣī; tables and closing discourse are rubricated and enclosed in golded borders; vol. edges gilded and painted; gilded

[i.e. 1895 or 6]; name of copyist of terminal discourse in colophon on p. [545]: sawwadahu Muḥammad Khalūṣī min tilmīdh al-maʻrūf bi-al-ḥājj Muḥammad Shawqī ... fī Muḥarram sanat 1310 [i.e. July-August 1892].

Date of copying and copyist's name in colophon on p. [502]: sawwdahu kathīr al-musāwī ... Būrdūrī al-faqīr al-ḥaqīr Nūrī ʻUthmān al-mushtahar al-ḥāfiẓ al-Qurʼān bi-Qāyish Zādah rāqiman ʻalá mā wāfaqa muṣḥaf al-sharīf ithnā wa-miʼah ... qad waqaʻa al-farāgh fī awākhir shahr Dhī al-Ḥijjah li-sanat tisʻa wa-thalāthamiʼah wa-alf [i.e. July 1892]; date of gilding and gilder's name at bottom of colophon: dhahhabahu al-ḥājj Aḥmad min tilmīdh al-ḥājj Ḥasan[?] sanat 1313

marginal notes/ examined by M. Zacharia 8/24/89."

"With marginal notes, excerpted from many sources, on textual variants, division of the text into verses, liturgical pronunciation etc.; a closing prayer [pp. 503-505]; tables showing the relationship of the Ten Readers (ḳurrāʼ), the Twenty Reciters (ruwāt), [and the Eighty Brotherhoods (ṭuruq), pp. [506-508], an explanatory discourse by the writer of the marginal notes [pp. 509-545]. Cataloging by William Hoyt Worrell, 1925. Researcher's note: "Calligraphic masterpiece/unique gilding/interesting

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 231

Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; decoration and calligraphy reminiscent of the Timurid style characteristic of late 15th century Herat ; paper would also suggest late 15th or possibly early 16th century ; binding would suggest 16th century.

Former shelfmark: "224 T. De M. [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis]" inscribed in pencil on interior of upper cover ; "196" inscribed in pencil on 'title page' (p.1).

Binding: Pasteboards covered in dark brown leather ; Type II binding (with flap) ; board linings in lined paper pasted over brown leather doublures, likely with leather filigree appliqué, see interior of envelop flap ; upper and lower covers carry large gold-stamped panel stamp (repeated twice to fill the entire area) filled with symmetrical vegetal design incorporating chi clouds, as well as border in a series of lozenge- and rosette-shaped stamps with outermost series of tooled s-shapes ; sewn in red thread, two stations ; overall in somewhat poor condition with lifting and losses of leather, abrasion, staining, etc.

Support: non-European (likely Persian) laid paper with roughly 7 laid lines per cm. (vertical) and sporadic chain lines mainly visible only in short lengths ; thick and sturdy though crisp ; well-sized and burnished ; machine laid paper stabilizing opening leaf carries an embossed mark (or "imitation watermark") reads "اثر جديد عهد همايون".

Decoration: Exquisite illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān / sarlawḥ) at opening on p.2, consisting of rectangular piece with gold cartouche carrying sūrah heading in white and defined by looping white banding (with black crosses) on grounds of gold and lapis lazuli overlaid with swirling vegetal pattern, all bordered in a series of elaborate bands in gold, white, lapis lazuli, black, red, turquoise, etc. ; surmounted by a narrower rectangular panel carrying lozenges filled with delicate vegetal decoration, itself surmounted by an uppermost semi-circular piece (dome) evoking half of an eight-lobed piece (defined by looping white banding) in gold and lapis lazuli with arabesque in turquoise and further swirling vegetal decoration, all surmounted by vertical stalks (tīgh) ; simpler illuminated headpiece consisting of rectangular panel with cartouche carrying the sūrah heading in white on a gold ground flanked by accent pieces in gold and lapis lazuli with swirling vegetal pattern and surrounded by bands of white, gold, blue, red, etc. appears at opening of each sūrah thereafter (p.16, p.28, p.37, and p.43) ; verse dividers in the form of interlace rosettes in gold with black, red, and blue accents appear throughout ; marginal decoration in the form of roundels in blue, green, and gold with "عشر" in white 'Kufic' script, other roundels in gold and blue with what appears to be "خمس" in white (many effaced) ; written area throughout surrounded by elaborate frame consisting of a series of narrow bands in gold, light blue, dark brown to red, turquoise, and lapis lazuli ; floral decoration in blue, gold, red, and black reminiscent of the central decorative panel and pendants of a book cover flank the centered lines ; upper, middle, and lower large lines chrysographed (vocalization in black).

Script: Fine calligraphic specimen ; elegant Persian hand ; lines in upper and lower panels of each page in muḥaqqaq, line in central panel in thuluth, lines in intermediate panels in naskh, sūrah headings in riqāʻ ; partially seriffed (mainly right-sloping wedge head-serif) ; fully vocalized.

Layout: Written in 9 lines per page with uppermost, middle, and lowermost large lines filling the column width and two sets of three compact lines centered between them ; frame-ruled.

Collation: 3 IV (24) ; exclusively quaternions ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals (supplied during digitization).

Title supplied by cataloguer.

Ms. codex.

5. p.43-p.47 : Sūrat al-Nabaʼ.

4. p.37-p.43 : Sūrat al-Mulk.

3. p.28-p.36 : Sūrat al-Wāqiʻah.

2. p.16-p.28 : Sūrat al-Fatḥ.

1. p.2-p.16 : Sūrat Yāsīn.

Elegant copy of a selection of sūrahs (suwar) from the Qurʼān, namely Sūrat Yāsīn (36), Sūrat al-Fatḥ (48), Sūrat al-Wāqiʻah (56), Sūrat al-Mulk (67) and Sūrat al-Nabaʼ (78).