A Chinese Qur'an
An illuminated Qur'an, Juz' XII.
4to (188 x 265 mm). 53 ff. Arabic manuscript on paper. Black Sini script in five lines, double-ruled in red, with red Surah titles. Illuminated with gold and polychrome rosette verse markers and on first bifolio with elaborate gold gilt border highlighted in red, blue, and green. Contemporary binding, modern rebacking and spine replaced.
€ 4.500,00
A complete Chinese manuscript of the 12th Juz' of the Qur'an, decorated with gold. This manuscript is part of the long Islamic manuscript tradition, especially popular among Chinese Muslims, of splitting the Qur'an into thirty sections, called Juz'. Each Juz' would be copied with particularly careful, beautiful Arabic calligraphy in the Chinese Sini script.
The twelfth Juz' stretches from the verse 6 of the 11th Surah, Hud, to verse 52 of the 12th Surah, Yusuf, and thus deals extensively with the lives of the prophets in the Islamic tradition, including Noah, the eponymous Hud, Sálih, Abraham and Lot, Shuaib, Moses, and Yusuf.
Arab presence in China dates back as far as the first Caliphate: the Prophet's companion Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas is traditionally credited with introducing Islam to China as ambassador in 650 CE. Historically, many major cities in China, such as Xi'an (known as Chang'an during the height of the Silk Road) and Beijing, boast a long and rich Muslim history. Qur'an sections written by Chinese Muslims show Chinese influence clearly in both the decoration and the bold Sini script, which is derived from naskh.
1) Private London collection acquired in the 1960s-1980s. 2) Offered at Bonhams, 11 October, 2000, lot 78.
Endpapers replaced; a touch of soiling and paper repair to margins, otherwise bright and clean.
