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Lot Essay
The colophon of this manuscript reads, faragha min hadhihi al-khatma al-mubaraka katibuha al-faqir ila ghufur rabbihi al-'aziz al-qadir 'ali bin dawud bin ahmad al-husayni 'afa allah anhu ghafara lahu wa li-walidayhi wa li-ikhwanihi wa li-jami' al-mu'minin innahu huwwa al-ghafur al-rahim fi-l-'ashar al-wusta [sic] min shahr ramadan al-karim sana sitt wa sittin wa thamani mi'ah hijriyya, 'This blessed copy, the copier of which is the needy of his Mighty, All-Powerful Lord's forgiveness, 'Ali bin Dawud bin Ahmad al-Husayni, God pardon him and forgive him and his parents and his brothers and all believers, for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful, on the tenth in the middle of the month of Ramadan the Generous, year six and sixty and eight hundred of the hijra'.
This Qur'an manuscript in nine sections is a unique example of Yemeni illumination. One of the most distinctive elements of this Qur'an is undoubtedly its use of a wide range of bright mostly primary colours. This use of colour is paralleled in much earlier Yemini kufic Qur'an folios discovered in the ceiling above the Great Mosque of San'a. A folio from this find now in the Dar al-Makhtutat al-Yamaniyyah collection in San'a has later added illumination of a sura separator with similar colours to those present throughout the nine volumes of this Qur'an (inv. 15-27.3; illustrated in Masahif Sana'a, exhibition catalogue, Kuwait, 1985, p. 47). A further folio in the same collection in Yemen has margins of brightly coloured strapwork and a sura separator band with scrolling vine and attached palmettes which are very similar to the illumination on the second bifolium of this Qur'an (inv 20-29.1: Masahif San'a, p.48).
The Yemen was invaded and occupied by the Ayyubids and subsequently the Mamluks. As a result there are many similarities between Egyptian and Yemeni Qur'ans of this period. For example a Mamluk Qur'an in the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad has very similar stylised muhaqqaq inside roundels like our own Qur'an (David James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, London, 1988, pl. 68, p. 247).
This Qur'an manuscript in nine sections is a unique example of Yemeni illumination. One of the most distinctive elements of this Qur'an is undoubtedly its use of a wide range of bright mostly primary colours. This use of colour is paralleled in much earlier Yemini kufic Qur'an folios discovered in the ceiling above the Great Mosque of San'a. A folio from this find now in the Dar al-Makhtutat al-Yamaniyyah collection in San'a has later added illumination of a sura separator with similar colours to those present throughout the nine volumes of this Qur'an (inv. 15-27.3; illustrated in Masahif Sana'a, exhibition catalogue, Kuwait, 1985, p. 47). A further folio in the same collection in Yemen has margins of brightly coloured strapwork and a sura separator band with scrolling vine and attached palmettes which are very similar to the illumination on the second bifolium of this Qur'an (inv 20-29.1: Masahif San'a, p.48).
The Yemen was invaded and occupied by the Ayyubids and subsequently the Mamluks. As a result there are many similarities between Egyptian and Yemeni Qur'ans of this period. For example a Mamluk Qur'an in the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad has very similar stylised muhaqqaq inside roundels like our own Qur'an (David James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, London, 1988, pl. 68, p. 247).