COPIED FOR AQA'I AQA MIRZA NASRULLAH, SIGNED MIRZA MUHAMMAD 'ALI KHANSARI AND MUHAMMAD 'ALI ISFAHANI, QAJAR IRAN, DATED AH 1278 / 1861-2 AD

This richly illuminated Qajar Qur’an was copied for Aqa’i Aqa Mirza Nasrullah. The first section, up to sura Yusuf, was copied by Mirza Muhammad ‘Ali Khwansari. Following his death the rest was completed by his successor (khalifa) Muhammad ‘Ali Isfahani, who finished it in AH 1278 / 1861-2 AD. Mehdi Bayani records a number of copies of the Qur’an and prayer books in the Golestan Palace Library copied by a certain Muhammad ‘Ali Khwansari between AH 1238 / 1822-3 AD and AH 1263 / 1846-7 AD. These include two Qur’ans made for Fath ‘Ali Shah in AH 1240 / 1824-5 AD and AH 1249 / 1833 AD respectively (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Navisan, vol. 4, Tehran, 1358 H.sh., p.180). There were a number of calligraphers called Muhammad ‘Ali Isfahani, including the calligrapher awarded the title Sultan al-Kuttab (Sultan of Calligraphers) by Nasir al-Din Shah, whose dated work is recorded by Bayani for the years AH 1268 / 1851-52 AD to AH 1317 / 1899-1900 AD (Bayani, ibid., pp. 175-6).

The marginal text was copied by Ibn Muhammad ‘Abd al-Husayn Isfahani in AH 1278 / 1861-2 AD. This can be identified as the celebrated shikasteh calligrapher ‘Abd al-Husayn Isfahani. A copy of the Kulliyat by ‘Abd al-Husayn Isfahani was sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2022, lot 60. The marginal text in a copy of the Qur’an in Harvard Art Museum is presumably also by him (acc.no.2014-394).

The most likely identification for the patron of our Qur’an is E'temad-al-Dawla, Aqa Khan (originally Nasr-Allah) Nuri Mirza, Prime Minister of Persia under Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar (1851-58). Aqa Khan Nuri was the second son of Mirza Asad-Allah Nuri, the chief army accountant under Aqa Mohammad Khan and Fath 'Ali Shah.