NARRATOR: In this case we’ll always display one or more pages from the famous ‘al-Zanjani’ Manuscript.

DENIZ BEYAZIT: In this case, we will have a very interesting and a very rare Qur’an manuscript. Actually of that manuscript,… in the whole world we have eight leaves which have survived, and all of them are, luckily, in the Metropolitan Museum. So what is so special about them? It is a Qur’an, but it is illuminated. Very ample illumination - which covers sometimes the entire page, which is unusual for that period. What I particularly like to see in this manuscript are the ornaments; very simple kind of interlaces which go around the pages. But then you have these small flowers, very different types of leaves, which create a very delicate background.

NARRATOR: The style of calligraphy shows a shift within the Kufic, or geometric style. Some of these letters are curved. The manuscript includes the signature page of the maker.

DENIZ BEYAZIT: So we know that this Qur’an manuscript has been finished in 1137 by Mohammed al Mohammed al-Zanjani. That's interesting: al-Zanjani. We know this is ‘Mohammed al Mohammed,’ so his father was also named Mohammed, he's originally from Zanjan, which is in the Northwestern part of Iran. It doesn't tell us that the manuscript itself has been created there, but it tells us that there was some Northwest Iranian influence which came through that person named al-Zanjani.

NARRATOR: To hear about why this – and other Qur’an leaves in these galleries are in such excellent condition, press PLAY. Look about as you listen.