The al-Sabah Collection is rich in manuscripts of the Qur’an. These range from a double page folio from one of the earliest known manuscripts, copied in the second century of Islam in a distinctive vertical script known as Hijazi, to a superbly decorated, large format manuscript signed by a famous calligrapher from Shiraz, while working at the royal court of Golconda in the Deccan in the 16th century CE.
An enormous number of Islamic manuscripts survive though relatively few are illustrated, particularly when it comes to works of Arabic literature. By contrast, a large number of illustrated manuscripts of Persian poetry were produced, some of the most important and beautiful examples of Islamic book arts.
Miniature paintings and calligraphic exercises were included in albums prepared for royal patrons. The schools of painting inherited by Mughal India and the Deccan were profoundly changed by exposure to Persian painting, but developed in different directions, retaining an interest in realistic depictions of the natural world.
The al-Sabah Collection is rich in manuscripts of the Qur’an. These range from a double page folio from one of the earliest known manuscripts, copied in the second century of Islam in a distinctive vertical script known as Hijazi, to a superbly decorated, large format manuscript signed by a famous calligrapher from Shiraz, while working at the royal court of Golconda in the Deccan in the 16th century CE.
An enormous number of Islamic manuscripts survive though relatively few are illustrated, particularly when it comes to works of Arabic literature. By contrast, a large number of illustrated manuscripts of Persian poetry were produced, some of the most important and beautiful examples of Islamic book arts.
Miniature paintings and calligraphic exercises were included in albums prepared for royal patrons. The schools of painting inherited by Mughal India and the Deccan were profoundly changed by exposure to Persian painting, but developed in different directions, retaining an interest in realistic depictions of the natural world.
Single folio from a dispersed manuscript of the Qur’an containing Surat al-Nisa’ from the middle of verse 171 to the beginning of verse 173 written in gold Kufic outlined with brown and with a large illuminated medallion inscribed with the verse count in the margin. The diacritics are indicated with diagonal strokes, the hamza (a letter indicating a glottal stop) in the form of green dots, and vocalization is marked with red and blue dots.
Al Fann Milan October 2010
Parchment folio from a manuscript of the Qur’an in Kufic script (Chapter 4: verses 170-3)
Inv. no. LNS 203 MS
Height 14.5 cm; width 21 cm
Ink, colours and gold
Eastern world 10th century AD
Paper folios from the astrological birth chart of a newborn, giving the coordinates of the planets and lunar nodes at the time of birth. The single folio contains predictions for the future of the newborn.
Inv. no. LNS 275 MS a
Ink, colour and gold
(a) Height 15.5 cm; width 22 cm
(b) Height 13.7 cm; width 11.3 cm
East Iranian world, late 12th – early 13th century AD
late 6th – early 7th century AH
Illustrated genealogy of the Ottoman sultans, traced through various dynasties and the Prophets back to Adam, this page depicting the Ottoman sultans Orkhan, Murad and Yildirim Bayazid
Inv. no. LNS 66 MS, f. 22 v.
Ink, colours and gold on paper; binding leather, dyed, stamped, tooled and partially gold-leafed
Height 24.3 cm; width of folio 16.2 cm
Ottoman Empire, ca. late 16th – early 17th century AD (with other sections and binding of later date)
ca. late 10th – early 11th century AD
To see more Art of the Book objects
For information on our painting publication Persian Painting: The Arts of the Book and Portraiture