A FINE ILLUMINATED QURAN ON VELLUM, COPIED BY... Lot n° 12

Arabic manuscript on vellum, 149 leaves, plus 4 flyleaves, 26 to 28 lines to the page, written in fine naskh script in black ink within cloud bands sprinkled with gold, verses separated by pointed gold roundels, surah headings in red against foliated panels, margins ruled in colors and gold, juz' numbers marked within illuminated marginal medallions, marginal annotations in nastaliq script, opening double page illuminated frontispiece colors and gold, preceded by illuminated surah and juz' indexes, ff.14b-15a, ff.148b-149b with additional marginal illuminations, binding doublures decorated with painted gold cartouches and corner pieces, outer boards with gilt-stamped cartouches and medallions filled with vegetal motifs and chinoiserie cloud bands. 25.5 by 15 cm. PROVENANCE An ownership inscription on f.1a states that the Quran was purchased in Constantinople by Farhad Ibn 'Abbas (son of 'Abbas Mirza) in 1297 AH/1880 AD. This note must have been written a few years after Farhad Mirza was in Istanbul as the only time he is recorded as having been there is when he went on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1875, which was via Istanbul; or on his return in the early months of 1876 before he was appointed governor of Fars in May-June 1876. On both occasions, he stayed in Istanbul a few days, when he must have acquired this manuscript, before having it illuminated in Persia. CATALOGUE NOTE Yedikuleli Seyyid 'Abdullah (d.1731). Born in 1670 in Istanbul to a family of calligraphers, 'Abdullah Efendi acquired the 'Yedikuleli' from the district in which he grew up carrying the same name. As a Seyyid, he was descended from The Prophet through both his father and mother. He studied the 'six scripts' with Hafiz Osman (d.1698, see lot 73), and became known as his most famous student, being described by Mustakimzade as a calligrapher whose talent reached "the rank of wondrous inimitability (quoted in N.F. Safwat, Understanding Calligraphy - The Ottoman Contribution, Part One, London, 2014, p.322). Seyyid 'Abdullah was appointed the instructor of calligraphy at the Topkapi Palace in 1708 and was a great favourite of Sultan Ahmad III (r.1703-30), under whose reign the present Quran was executed. He became one of greatest practitioners of naskh calligraphy and is known to have copied at least twenty-five Qurans, including the present example. A muraqqa' signed by Seyyid 'Abdullah exists in a private Turkish collection (ibid, pp.322-5, no.81), whilst two Qurans by his hand are housed in the Istanbul Rare Books Library (see M. Ugur Derman, Ninety-Nine Qur'an Manuscripts from Istanbul, Istanbul, 2010, pp.212-5, nos.52 and 53), and a qit'a in the collection of Abdul Rahman al-Owais, Sharjah (see M.U. Derman, Eternal Letters, Sharjah, 2009, no.18). The Persian text written upside down on the penultimate page in red shikasteh was written by the illuminator ‘Abdullah al-Khurasani, who records that the marginal illumination was commissioned by a high official.