Walters Ms. W.562, Koran

W.562

Koran

Vernacular: القرآن

This illuminated fragment of the Qur'an contains chapter 78 (Sūrat al-nabāʾ) through chapter 114 (Sūrat al-nās). It dates to the ninth century AH / fifteenth CE and was probably produced in Iran. The text is written in a large vocalized muḥaqqaq script in black ink. The chapter headings are inscribed in both the New Abbasid (broken cursive) style and thuluth script. Verse markers are illuminated in gold, and polychrome medallions mark tenth verses. The black goatskin binding, which is attributable to the eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE, has a blind-tooled central lobed oval with floral motifs and pastedowns of marbled paper.

9th century AH / 15th CE

Probably Iran

Book

Scriptural

The primary language in this manuscript is Arabic.

Paper

Laid paper

Foliation: 48

Manuscript comprised of quires of six folios (ternions) and ten folios (quinions); fols. 1a-b, 2a, and 47b-48b blank

Catchwords: None

28.0 cm wide by 38.0 cm high

18.0 cm wide by 23.5 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 5

1. Title: al-Qurʾān
2. Text note: Contains chapter 78 (Sūrat al-nabāʾ) to chapter 114 (Sūrat al-nās)
3. Hand note: Written in a large vocalized muḥaqqaq script in black ink; chapter headings in New Abbasid (broken cursive) style and thuluth script in gold and white ink; medallions marking tenth verses in New Abbasid (broken cursive) style in gold ink
4. Decoration note: Double-page illuminated incipit with interlinear floral motifs and other decoration, including text frames in blue and gold (fols. 2b-3a); verse markers of gold rosettes with outlines in black and highlights in blue; chapter headings; inscribed polychrome medallions marking tenth verses (not consistent throughout codex)

fol. 2b:

1. 
2. Title: Right side of a double-page illuminated incipit of chapter 78 of the Qur'an
3. Form: Incipit
4. Text: Initial verses of chapter 78 (Sūrat al-nabāʾ)
5. Label: This is the right side of a double-page illuminated incipit for chapter 78 (Sūrat al-nabāʾ). The inscription in the illuminated panels begins with the title of chapter 78 (Sūrat al-nabāʾ), followed by verses 77-81 of chapter 56 (Sūrat al-wāqiʿah), which continues in the panels on the facing page. The panel inscription is written in the New Abbasid (broken cursive) style in gold on a blue ground with green arabesques.

fol. 3a:

1. 
2. Title: Left side of a double-page illuminated incipit of chapter 78
3. Form: Incipit
4. Text: Chapter 78 (Sūrat al-nabāʾ)
5. Label: This is the left side of a double-page illuminated incipit for chapter 78 (Sūrat al-nabāʾ). The inscription in the illuminated panels is verses 79-81 of chapter 56 (Sūrat al-wāqiʿah). The panel inscription is written in the New Abbasid (broken cursive) style in gold on a blue ground with green arabesques.

fol. 5b:

1. 
2. Title: Illuminated chapter heading for chapter 79 (Sūrat al-nāzi‘āt)
3. Form: Chapter heading
4. Text: Beginning of chapter 79 (Sūrat al-nāzi‘āt)
5. Label: The illuminated panel on the bottom of the page is the chapter heading for chapter 79 (Sūrat al-nāzi‘āt). It is written in thuluth script in gold ink on a red ground.

fol. 42a:

1. 
2. Title: Illuminated chapter heading for chapter 106 (Sūrat Quraysh)
3. Form: Chapter heading
4. Text: Chapter 106 (Sūrat Quraysh)
5. Label: This is a text page with an illuminated chapter heading for chapter 106 (Sūrat Quraysh). The title is written in the New Abbasid (broken cursive) style in gold ink on a blue ground with green arabesques.

fol. 45b:

1. 
2. Title: Illuminated chapter heading for chapter 113 of the Qur'an
3. Form: Chapter heading
4. Text: First line of chapter 113 (Sūrat al-falaq)
5. Label: This text page has lines of vocalized muḥaqqaq script with an illuminated chapter heading for chapter 113 (Sūrat al-falaq). The chapter heading is written in New Abbasid (broken cursive) style in gold ink on a blue ground with red arabesques.

The binding is not original.

Probably eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE; black goatskin binding (with flap); central blind-tooled lobed oval with floral motif; pastedowns of marbled paper

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.