Art Of the Book
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.
Illuminated manuscript of the Qur’an, text in clouds on a red cross-hatched ground
Illustrated genealogy of the Ottoman sultans, page with Orkhan, Murad and Yildirim Bayazid
Illustrated leaf from a manuscript of the Khamsa of Nizami, depicting the Mi‘raj (ascension) of the Prophet Muhammad on Buraq
Folio from a dispersed Qur’an, Surat al-Nisa’ 4:171–173 in gold Kufic with illuminated medallion
Paper folios from the astrological birth chart of a newborn, with planetary coordinates and predictions
Miniature painting on silk of a princely couple with attendants in opulent dress
Folio from an album portraying the Mughal emperor Awrangzeb (‘Alamgir) with emeralds and pearls
Illustrated leaf from Rashid al-Din’s Jami‘ al-Tawarikh, depiction of Hülegü Khan’s bier
Folio from al-Jazari’s Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Devices, water-powered flute mechanism
Folio from Dioscorides’ De materia medica, showing Pulegium plant and its medicinal properties
Folio from an album with a painter at work on a miniature, copy of a Timurid work by Bihzad
Folio with a youth drinking wine; reverse with calligraphy of Hafiz, Sa‘di, and others
Illustrated folio from the Dastan-e Amir Hamza, showing a fortress capture by Amir Hamza
Folio from a Qur’an manuscript in ‘eastern Kufic’ with decorated ground of palmettes
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