Page from a Manuscript of the Qur'an (2:264-66; 2:267-70)

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Page from a Manuscript of the Qur'an (2:264-66; 2:267-70)

Late 8th century
Manuscripts; folios
Ink on parchment
13 × 15 1/2 in. (33.02 × 39.37 cm)
The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky (M.73.5.508)
Art of the Middle East: Islamic and Contemporary
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Early Islamic manuscripts of the Qur’an are distinguished by their parchment pages, angular scripts, and horizontal formats....
Early Islamic manuscripts of the Qur’an are distinguished by their parchment pages, angular scripts, and horizontal formats. Few such manuscripts remain intact, but given their sacred importance as written expressions of the word of God, many individual pages were preserved over the centuries in religious institutions. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such folios appeared on the art market and subsequently entered collections across the globe. The size, text layout, and idiosyncratic script of this page and a second example (M.2002.1.383) confirm their belonging to the same now-dispersed manuscript. Unlike some contemporaneous manuscripts of the Qur’an with just five lines of text and considerable spacing between words (see M.2002.1.24), this example has sixteen lines of text per page, thereby reducing the overall amount of parchment required. The illuminated verse markers (an alif for every five, a roundel for every ten) contribute color and luxuriousness, and red points indicate vocalization.
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Bibliography

  • Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, ed.  Islamic Art:  The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection.  Los Angeles:  Museum Associates, 1973.
  • Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, ed.  Islamic Art:  The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection.  Los Angeles:  Museum Associates, 1973.

  • Pal, Pratapaditya, Thomas W. Lentz, Sheila R. Canby, Edwin Binney, 3rd, Walter B. Denny, and Stephen Markel. "Arts from Islamic Cultures: Los Angeles County Museum of Art." Arts of Asia 17, no. 6 (November/December 1987): 73-130.

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