[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830.
£3,000.00
The holy text of the Qur’an is divisible into thirty equal parts to facilitate the reading of one section every day of the month, each sections being called a Juz’. In principle, the copying of Qur’ans into Juz’ is associated with Qur’anic study and the practices endorsed by Islamic scholars to memorise the holy text, however many examples throughout the wider Islamic world have also been copied into thirty Juz’ as a symbol of wealth and status. The expense of creating thirty dedicated volumes would have required significantly larger quantities of raw materials and the larger format of the layout of the holy text was often a much more laborious undertaking for the scribes, illuminators and binders involved.
These lavishly illustrated and inscribed Juz’ were likely coped as a full set and produced for a wealthy and high ranking individual in the Court of Fath’Ali Shah Qajar for personal use. The quality of the illuminated unwan (head-pieces) and regular naskh script used throughout indicate manuscript production in a skilled and established scriptorium from this period, probably from the region of Isfahan in Qajar Persia.
For all enquiries please contact: Roxana Kashani roxana@shapero.com
+44 (0)20 3693 2190
Provenance: Ali (?) Haji Bakhsh Abu Muhammad (contemporary Qajar seal impressions to final Juz’). Five volumes, each containing one Juz’ of the Qur’an, illuminated manuscripts on thick polished buff paper, in Arabic, containing Juz’ VI (An-Nisa 4:148 to Al-Maidah 5:82), Juz’ VIII (Al-An’am 6:111 to Al-Araf 7:170), Juz’ XI (At-Towbah 9:94 to Hud 11:5), Juz’ XVII (Al-Anbiya 21:1 to Al-Hajj 22:78) and Juz’ XXX (An-Naba 78:1 to An-Nas 114:6), each Juz’ 16-19 leaves (together 84 leaves, plus some contemporary free endleaves to a couple volumes) and all textually complete in themselves, 265 by 170 mm; single column, 11 lines bold black naskh script with diacritics, some vocalisation in red, surah headings throughout in red thuluth script, large polychrome head-pieces (unwan) opening each of the Juz’, these executed to a very high standard by a fine hand and illuminated in gold, leaves ruled in blue and gold throughout, contemporary catch-words, some smudges and light staining, a few sections cockled from damp; housed in uniform contemporary Qajar lacquered boards, inside covers painted and ruled in red, outer covers a dark tan with gilt floral pattern to frame outer edges, all rebacked, a little worn in places.
Asian Art in London uses cookies in order to deliver a personalised, responsive service and to improve the site. We remember and store information about how you use it using simple text files called cookies which sit on your computer which are completely safe and secure. Read our Privacy Policy to give you more detailed information about your rights and how we use your data.
![[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830.](http://asianartinlondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/apollo-masthead.png "[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830.")
![[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830.](http://asianartinlondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ATG-Logo-1.png "[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830."){kind=logo}
![[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830.](https://www.asianartinlondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/apollo-masthead.png "[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830.")
![[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830.](https://www.asianartinlondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ATG-Logo-1.png "[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830."){kind=logo}
[QUR’AN]. Five Fine Qajar Juz’. Qajar Persia, circa 1830.
£3,000.00
The holy text of the Qur’an is divisible into thirty equal parts to facilitate the reading of one section every day of the month, each sections being called a Juz’. In principle, the copying of Qur’ans into Juz’ is associated with Qur’anic study and the practices endorsed by Islamic scholars to memorise the holy text, however many examples throughout the wider Islamic world have also been copied into thirty Juz’ as a symbol of wealth and status. The expense of creating thirty dedicated volumes would have required significantly larger quantities of raw materials and the larger format of the layout of the holy text was often a much more laborious undertaking for the scribes, illuminators and binders involved.
These lavishly illustrated and inscribed Juz’ were likely coped as a full set and produced for a wealthy and high ranking individual in the Court of Fath’Ali Shah Qajar for personal use. The quality of the illuminated unwan (head-pieces) and regular naskh script used throughout indicate manuscript production in a skilled and established scriptorium from this period, probably from the region of Isfahan in Qajar Persia.
For all enquiries please contact:
Roxana Kashani
roxana@shapero.com
+44 (0)20 3693 2190
Description
Provenance: Ali (?) Haji Bakhsh Abu Muhammad (contemporary Qajar seal impressions to final Juz’). Five volumes, each containing one Juz’ of the Qur’an, illuminated manuscripts on thick polished buff paper, in Arabic, containing Juz’ VI (An-Nisa 4:148 to Al-Maidah 5:82), Juz’ VIII (Al-An’am 6:111 to Al-Araf 7:170), Juz’ XI (At-Towbah 9:94 to Hud 11:5), Juz’ XVII (Al-Anbiya 21:1 to Al-Hajj 22:78) and Juz’ XXX (An-Naba 78:1 to An-Nas 114:6), each Juz’ 16-19 leaves (together 84 leaves, plus some contemporary free endleaves to a couple volumes) and all textually complete in themselves, 265 by 170 mm; single column, 11 lines bold black naskh script with diacritics, some vocalisation in red, surah headings throughout in red thuluth script, large polychrome head-pieces (unwan) opening each of the Juz’, these executed to a very high standard by a fine hand and illuminated in gold, leaves ruled in blue and gold throughout, contemporary catch-words, some smudges and light staining, a few sections cockled from damp; housed in uniform contemporary Qajar lacquered boards, inside covers painted and ruled in red, outer covers a dark tan with gilt floral pattern to frame outer edges, all rebacked, a little worn in places.
Additional information
Rare Books
Related products
Leaf from a fine Safavid calligraphic album. Safavid Persia, circa 1600.
£3,500.00 Add to basketIlluminated Ottoman Prayerbook, containing various Du’a and the names of Allah, with some in the form of hilya within the text. Ottoman Turkey, circa 1820 AD.
£3,500.00 Add to basketCalligraphy by a living artist – Iran, 1397 AS (2018 AD)
£4,000.00 Add to basketAn Attractive Indian Qur’an, in a contemporary lacquered binding. probably Kashmir, circa 1810 AD.
£4,750.00 Add to basket