LNS 274 MS
Illustrated leaf from a manuscript of the Khamsa or series of epic poems of Nizami, depicting the Mi‘raj, or transport of the Prophet Muhammad to
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.
LNS 66 MS, f. 22 v.
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
LNS 8 MS
Illuminated manuscript of the Qur’an, the text in clouds on a red finely cross-hatched ground.
LNS 275 MS
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
LNS 2 CA
Parchment folio from a manuscript of the Qur’an in Kufic script (Chapter 23: includes the very end of verse 49 to the very beginning of
LNS 203 MS
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
LNS 37 MS
Folio from a manuscript of Pedanius Dioscorides’ De materia medica (The Pharmacological Book of Herbs), showing a plant from the Pulegium species (fudanj) and listing
LNS 57 MS
Folio from an album depicting a sumptuously dressed painter at work on a miniature in the contemporary style of Iran or the Deccan; probably by
LNS 77 MS
Miniature painting on silk depicting a princely couple in the company of attendants, variously bejeweled and opulently dressed in gold-decorated and fur-lined very long-sleeved cloaks
LNS 345 MS
Folio from an album with the portrayal of a lavishly-dressed youth drinking wine, with floral and foliate border in gold; the reverse an illuminated calligraphic
LNS 112 MS
Folio from an album portraying the Mughal emperor ‘Alamgir (Awrangzeb, son of Shah Jahan) holding a hexagonal emerald and wearing a rectangular one, as well
LNS 17 MS f 123v
Folio from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by Isma‘il ibn ar-Razzaz al-Jazari, illustrating the water-powered mechanism for a ‘perpetual flute’, the text
LNS 63 MS a
Folio from a sumptuous and famous manuscript of the Qur’an, all the text of which is executed in ‘eastern Kufic’ against an elaborately decorated ground
LNS 297 MS
Illustrated folio depicting the capture of Marzuq’s and the Frank’s (Europeans) fortress by the Amir Hamza, from a manuscript of an epic narrating the exploits
LNS 286 MS
Illustrated leaf from a manuscript of the Universal History (Jami‘ at-Tawarikh), written by the Ilkhanid vizier Rashid ad-Din and augmented at the Mughal court under