Section of a Qur'an

Title

Section of a Qur'an

Year/Period

c. 1300-1335

Region

Turkey (Anatolia)

Object Type

calligraphy (visual works), illuminated manuscripts, religious texts

Material

color (pigment), ink, paper (fiber product)

Technique

calligraphy (process), illumination (image-making process)

Dimension

Image size: L:28.0 x W:18.5 x T:1.0 cm

Accession No.

1999-00798

Collection of

Asian Civilisations Museum

This Qur'an section containing surah 102-108 has three lines of bold muhaqqaq script on each page. Muhaqqaq which means ‘accurate’ or ‘measured’, is a straight script with flat endings that look like swords. It was a script favoured for copying Qur’ans from the 14th century onwards but lost its prominence in the 17th century. This section corresponds to more-or less an eighth of a juz' (part). The calligraphy in this Qur'an is very powerful and has been variously ascribed to the work of calligraphers in Sultanate India, Central Asia and Anatolia. Most scholars believe it comes from Anatolia.