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Isfahan Quran

10th-century manuscript of the Quran

Isfahan Quran

The Isfahan Quran is an early manuscript of the Quran written in Isfahan in AH 383. It is now dispersed between multiple collections, with folios in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum in Istanbul, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, the Freer Gallery of Art, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Its format and calligraphy have features that were new in the tenth century: paper rather than parchment, a more ornate form of script, and the use of coloured ink markings.

Isfahan Quran

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Folio from the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art with surah heading in gold

The Isfahan Quran (Persian: قرآن اصفهان, romanized: Gharan Esfehan) is an early manuscript of the Quran written in Isfahan in AH 383 (993 CE).[1] It is now dispersed between multiple collections, with folios in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum in Istanbul, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, the Freer Gallery of Art, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.[2][3] Its format and calligraphy have features that were new in the tenth century: paper rather than parchment, a more ornate form of script, and the use of coloured ink markings.[4][2]

refer to caption
Folio from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Close-up view showing the varying stroke widths, red dots for vocalisation, and (top left) a verse marker in gold and ink

Physical description

The original manuscript consisted of 1,300 folios in four volumes.[5] The folios are made of paper and measure 34 or 35 centimetres (13 or 14 in) by 21 to 24 centimetres (8 to 9 in).[2] The combination of paper and horizontal format is uncommon; early manuscript Qurans were usually on parchment and in a horizontal format, while in later centuries paper and the vertical format became the norm.[6][7][4]

The text is set out in four lines of Kufic script written in black ink.[8][9] There are coloured dots for vocalisation markings and gold for decoration, including surah headings and verse markers.[5] The manuscript is signed by the scribe, Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Yasln.[2][5]

Location

The collections and inventory numbers for currently known parts of the Isfahan Quran are:

Significance

The Isfahan Quran is an example of what François Déroche called the "new style" of Kufic script, a strongly angular style with varying line thicknesses and some elongated letters.[3] This script style, also known as "broken Kufic", rose to popularity in the tenth century.[3][4] This Quran is unusual in the vertical height given to each row of text, at around 4 centimetres (1.6 in).[8] The variety of letter sizes and brush strokes, within the four consistently spaced lines, required particularly skilled use of the qalam, the reed pen used in Islamic calligraphy.[3][5] The use of dots in multiple colours to indicate in detail how the text is to be vocalised is also a tenth-century innovation.[3]

References

  1. ↑ George, Alain (2015). "Coloured Dots and the Question of Regional Origins in Early Qur'ans (Part II)". Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 17 (2): 77. ISSN 1465-3591.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 George, Alain (2015). "Coloured Dots and the Question of Regional Origins in Early Qur'ans (Part I)". Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 17 (1): 27–31. ISSN 1465-3591.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 George, Alain (2017). "The Quran, Calligraphy, and the Early Civilization of Islam". In Flood, Finbarr Barry; Necipoğlu, Gülru (eds.). A companion to Islamic art and architecture: from the Prophet to the Mongols. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell. pp. 125–126. doi:10.1002/9781119069218.ch4. ISBN 978-1-119-06866-2.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Folios from a Qur'an Manuscript". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Page from the Qur'an, 993". Minneapolis Institute of Art. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
  6. 1 2 "Islamic Art | Single Folio from a Four-part Qur'an". Khalili Collections. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
  7. ↑ Cohen, Julia; Ekhtiar, Maryam (1 May 2014). "Early Qur'ans (8th–Early 13th Century)". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 28 February 2026. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
  8. 1 2 Déroche, François (1992). The Abbasid Tradition: Qur'äns of the 8th to 10th Centuries A.D. London: The Nour Foundation. pp. 154–155. ISBN 0197276008.
  9. 1 2 Rogers, J. M. (2008). The arts of Islam : treasures from the Nasser D. Khalili collection (Revised and expanded ed.). Abu Dhabi: Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC). p. 35. OCLC 455121277.
  10. ↑ "Folio from a Qur'an". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 26 May 2026.

Further reading

  • Demirkol, Ali Serkander; Unustası, Müjde; Ortaç, Sandra Semra (2010). The 1400th anniversary of the Qur'an: Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art Qur'an Collection. İstanbul: Antik A. Ş. cultural publications. ISBN 978-975-7843-17-7.