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Folios from a Qur'an Manuscript

383 AH/993 CE
Not on view
The first centuries in the copying of the Qur’an witnessed a succession of changing styles in the manuscript’s calligraphy, decoration, and format. This Qur’an shows many of the changes taking place in the medieval period. Whereas earlier Qur’ans were made of parchment and inscribed in a relatively simple kufic script, this manuscript was created of paper and of an angular script known as "new style script". The folios belong to the last volume of a four-part Qur’an manuscript, other folios of which provide the date of AH Ramadan 383 / AD October–November 993 and indicate that it was copied in the Iranian city of Isfahan. In both its medium and calligraphy, these folios reveal the increasing cultural pull of the eastern edge of the Islamic world, a decided shift from the earlier, Mediterranean- focus of the first Islamic centuries.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Folios from a Qur'an Manuscript
  • Date: 383 AH/993 CE
  • Geography: Made in Iran, Isfahan
  • Medium: Ink and gold on paper
  • Dimensions: H. 9 7/16 in. (24 cm)
    W. 13 13/16 in. (35.1 cm)


    Mat: 14 1/4 x 19 1/4 in. (36.2 x 48.9 cm)
    Frame: 15 1/4 x 20 1/4 in. (38.7 x 51.4 cm)
  • Classification: Codices
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1940
  • Object Number: 40.164.5a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

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Folio from a Mu'nis al-ahrar fi daqa'iq al-ash'ar (The Free Man's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Jajarmi, Muhammad ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi Iranian, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Folio from a Mu'nis al-ahrar fi daqa'iq al-ash'ar (The Free Man's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Jajarmi
Muhammad ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi
dated 741 AH/1340–41 CE
"The Concourse of the Birds", Folio 11r from a Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds), Habiballah of Sava Iranian, Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper
"The Concourse of the Birds", Folio 11r from a Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds)
Habiballah of Sava
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ca. 1600
"Caesar Gives his Daughter Katayun to Gushtasp", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi, Abu'l Qasim Firdausi Iranian, Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper
"Caesar Gives his Daughter Katayun to Gushtasp", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi
ca. 1330–40
"A Ruffian Spares the Life of a Poor Man", Folio 4v from a Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds), Farid al-Din `Attar Iranian, Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper
"A Ruffian Spares the Life of a Poor Man", Folio 4v from a Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds)
Farid al-Din `Attar
ca. 1600
"Gushtasp Slays the Rhino-Wolf", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings), Abu'l Qasim Firdausi Iranian, Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper
"Gushtasp Slays the Rhino-Wolf", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi
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