Property from a Private London Collection

A Qur’an, Qajar Iran, signed by ‘Ali Muhammad Isfahani Sultan al-Kuttab, copied for Aqa Mirza Mahmud, dated Rabi’ II 1306 AH/ December 1888AD, Arabic manuscript on paper, 394ff., with 14ll of naskh within blue and gold frames per page, sura headings in gold thuluth, verse markers in gold, one illuminated frontispiece in colours and gold, remargined, later catchwords, outer borders of folios 1v-2r richly decorated with intertwining stylised serrated leaves and flowerheads in two shades of gold, contemporary lacquered black morocco with borders decorated with floral and vegetal motifs in gold and some colour, doublures of brown morocco, unrelated brown slipcase, folio 26.2 x 17cm. 

The scribe supplied substantial missing sections of the original, earlier Qur’an. There is a questionable note attributing the original manuscript to al-Suhravardi.

Provenance: Bonhams, 19 April 2016, Lot 18

The colophon says that the manuscript was copied by the order of Aqa Mirza Mahmud Khan, who wanted this precious Qur'an to be revived. Muhammad 'Ali Isfahani, titled Sultan al-Kuttab, rewrote the missing part in exactly the same style as the original (shabih-nevisi) in Rabi' ii 1306/December 1888-January 1889. A note states that the original Qur'an was by Ahmad bin Suravardi (also known as Shaykh-zadeh), a naskhi scribe of the first decades of the 14th Century. He was a pupil of Yaqut Musta'simi in Baghdad and is recorded as having written many inscriptions of buildings in that city. His recorded work includes copies of the Qur'an, religious texts and calligraphic pages dated between AH 710/AD 1310-11 and AH 728/AD 1327-8. (See Mehdi Bayani, ahval va asar-e khosh-nevisan, vol. iv, Tehran 1358sh, pp. 14-16).

The scribe Muhammad 'Ali Isfahani is recorded as a master of calligraphers whose naskhi script reached the highest degree and he was rewarded with the title sultan al-kuttab (King of scribes) under Nasir al-Din Shah. His recorded work that include copies of the Qur'an, prayer books and calligraphic pages are dated between AH 1268/AD 1851-52 and AH 1317/AD 1899-1900. (See Muhammad Hasan I'timad al-Saltanah, al-ma'athir wa al-athar, edited by I. Afshar, Tehran, 1363 sh, p. 283 and Mehdi Bayani, op. cit., vol. iv, Tehran, 1358sh, pp. 175-6).