Fit for the royal library of the Sultan of Morocco

Telemsani, Muhammad al Mukhtar ibn Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Nahar Al-, calligrapher / Ibn Hicham, Jamal Ed-dine Yusuf. [Arabic grammar].

€ 65.000,00

The work of a Moroccan master calligrapher: this manuscript was completed by the royal calligrapher Muhammad al Mukhtar ibn Muhammad ibn Musa al-Nahar al-Telemsani in the city of Fez for the royal library of Sultan Muhammad Ben Abd Allah (1710-90). While working on this manuscript, Muhammad al Mukhtar was in fact a guest at the Sultan's palace, as stated on the final folio, where he undertook the monumental work of decorating this piece in his fine style.

The work itself is a grammar by Jamal Ed-dine Yusuf ibn Hicham, the most eminent and influential grammarian of his time. Here, Ibn Hicham's work has been masterfully transformed into a work of calligraphic art in six different inks, marked with ornate marginal medallions and completed with a beautiful 'Unwan and a final full-page finispiece typical of Muhammad Al Mukhtar's work, incorporating geometric designs and calligraphy in the finest North African style. The decoration is comparable to that of a 16th century Moroccan Qur'an produced for an earlier Sultan of Morocco, Mawlay 'Abdallah ibn Muhammad, now in the British Library (inv. no. 1405, Blair 2008, p. 67, fig.5.6), and a Qur'an sold by Sotheby's in their Arts of the Islamic World & India sale (25 Oct. 2023, Lot 1), created in Algeria in the same year.