Walters Ms. W.559, Koran

W.559

Koran

Vernacular: القرآن

This illuminated copy of the Qur’an was excecuted in Shaʿbān 723 AH / 1323 CE by Mubārakshāh ibn Quṭb, honored with the epithet zarrīn qalam (golden pen). Mubārakshāh ibn Quṭb was one of the six pupils of the illustrious calligrapher Yāqūt al-Mustaʿṣimī (d. 698 AH / 1298 CE). This manuscript, with a colophon signed and dated by Mubārakshāh (fol. 432a), was produced in Ilkhanid, Iran. It opens with a double-page illuminated frontispiece of geometric design painted in blue, black, gold, and green (fols. 1b-2a). Additional ornamentation includes verse markers and textual dividers. The Qur'anic text is written in naskh script in black ink with chapter headings in gold tawqī‘ outlined in black. The Persian interlinear translation in red naskh likely belongs to a later stage of the manuscript's history, when it was rebound and furnished with new margins. The black goatskin binding has a gold-tooled design of a central lobed medallion, pendants, and cornerpieces with doublures of brown leather and filigree decoration. It probably dates to the tenth century AH / sixteenth CE.

Shaʿbān 723 AH / 1323 CE

Iran

As-written name: Mubārakshāh ibn Quṭb

Name, in vernacular: مباركشاه بن قطب

Note: Nicknamed zarrīn qalam (golden pen), Mubārakshāh was one of the six pupils of the illustrious calligrapher Yāqūt al-Mustaʿṣimī (d. 698 AH / 1298 CE).

Book

Scriptural

The primary language in this manuscript is Arabic. The secondary language of this manuscript is Persian.

2. Transliteration: katabahu al-faqīru ilá Allāhi taʿālá /1/ Mubākshāhu ibn Quṭbin ghafara Allāhu /2/ dhunūbahumā wa-satara ʿuyūbahumā fī Shaʿbāni /3/ sanata thalāth wa-ʿishrīna wa-sabʿa miʾatin /4/ ḥāmidan li-Llāhi taʿālá ʿalá niʿamihi wa-muṣalliyan /5/ ʿalá nabīyihi Muḥammadin wa-ālihi al-ghurari al-kirāmi /6/ al-ṭayyibīna al-ṭāhirīna wa-musalliman taslīman /7/
3. Comment: Gives the name of the calligrapher Mubākshāh ibn Quṭb and the date of copying

Paper

Dark cream laid Persian paper inlaid into later margins, probably in the tenth century AH / sixteenth CE

Foliation: i+432+i

Catchwords: None

Comments:

13.5 cm wide by 18.5 cm high

6.5 cm wide by 11.0 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 13
3. Framing lines in dark blue, black, and gold

1. Title: al-Qurʾān
2. Scribe: Mubārakshāh ibn Quṭb
3. Hand note: Written in small naskh in black ink; sūrah headings in gold tawqīʿ outlined in black; naskh in red ink for interlinear Persian translation
4. Decoration note: Double-page frontispiece (fols. 1b-2a); double-page opening decoration (fols. 2b-3a); illuminated rosettes with colored dots for verse markers; frequent marginal medallions for verse counts of ten and textual dividers, such as juzʾ and rubʿ; polychrome frame

fol. 1b:

1. 
2. Title: Right side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece
3. Form: Frontispiece
4. Label: This double-page illuminated frontispiece is comprised of two rectangles surrounded by a trefoil border in grisaille. The inner border is gold strapwork with blue squares. The central area is an intricate design of geometric forms and arabesques in blue, black, gold, and green.

fol. 2a:

1. 
2. Title: Left side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece
3. Form: Frontispiece
4. Label: This double-page illuminated frontispiece is comprised of two rectangles surrounded by a trefoil border in grisaille. The inner border is gold strapwork with blue squares. The central area is an intricate design of geometric forms and arabesques in blue, black, gold, and green.

fol. 2b:

1. 
2. Title: Incipit page for chapter 1 of the Qur'an
3. Form: Incipit
4. Text: Surat al-fātiha
5. Label: This opening page is inscribed with the first chapter of the Qur'an (Sūrat al-fātiḥah). The Qur'anic text is written in black naskh, and the Persian interlinear translation is in red.

fol. 3a:

1. 
2. Title: Initial verses of chapter 2 of the Qur'an
3. Form: Text page
4. Text: Sūrat al-baqarah
5. Label: This text page is the beginning of Sūrat al-baqarah. The black naskh is the Qur'anic text and the text in red is the interlinear Persian translation.

The binding is not original.

Probably tenth century AH / sixteenth CE; black goatskin (with flap); gold-tooled central lobed oval with pendants and cornerpieces decorated with floral and vine motif; gold-tooled frame; doublures of brown leather with a lobed oval, pendants, and cornerpieces, all with filigree decoration on a dark blue ground

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.