A parchment bifolio from a Qur'ānic Manuscript
Almoḥad or early Naṣrid Andalusia
13th century AD
19cm x 17 cm (each folio)

Quran bifolio from Andalusia, 13th Century. Sūrat Fuṣṣilat, Folio 1 recto: end of 41:28 - beginning of 41:37, Folio 1 verso: end of 41:37 - beginning of 41:44

Bifolio from a parchment Quran, Andalusia 13th century.Folio 2 recto: end of 41:44 - beginning of 41:51 Folio 2 recto: end of 41:51 - end of 41:54. Sūrat al-Shūrā (The Consultation) beginning of 42:1 - beginning of 42:7

Sūrat Fuṣṣilat
Folio 1 recto: end of 41:28 - beginning of 41:37
Folio 1 verso: end of 41:37 - beginning of 41:44
__________________________
Folio 2 recto: end of 41:44 - beginning of 41:51
Folio 2 recto: end of 41:51 - end of 41:54 
Sūrat al-Shūrā (The Consultation)
beginning of 42:1 - beginning of 42:7

This double folio belonged to a two- or three-volume muṣḥaf penned in brown ink on fine vellum, in a typically square format. Qur'ānic manuscripts of this type, featuring small and compact scripts and a particularly meticulous ornamentation, are generally attributed to the Almoravid and Almoḥad scriptoria of Córdoba and Valencia.

Valencia in particular, before its seizure by the Christians in 1238, was home to several master calligraphers whose works were accorded such a high status that Ibn al-Abbār, a contemporary eye-witness, tells us that kings and illustrious persons haggled with each other to pay the highest possible price for these books.[1] Ibn Ghattus and his two sons are perhaps the most renowned among these Valencian calligraphers, thanks not only to the coeval accounts praising their work, but also to the small corpus of extant Qur'āns bearing their signature, all penned in a diminutive Maghribī style showing typically conservative traits.[2] The old-fashioned aspect of Córdoban and Valencian scripts in the Almoravid and Almoḥad period may be read as a deliberate attempt to revive the angularity of earlier calligraphy, which had been gradually replaced by the roundness and fluidity of 'cursive' Maghribī scripts during the 10th and 11th centuries AD. This is particularly visible, on this bifolio, in the stiff rectangular shape of the letters ṣād, ḍād, ṭā', and ẓā', in sharp contrast with the curlicues of the letters yā', lām, rā', and nūn in final position.

This muṣḥaf was clearly penned in the wake of Ibn Ghattus and his atelier (active between 1159 and 1182 AD), yet the more spacious layout of the text seems to herald the reappearance of larger scripts in the following decades. If compared with the twenty-five lines per page of a standard 12th-century Qur'ān, the fifteen lines on these folios are relatively few. Moreover, the script appears to have evolved from the spindly strokes of Ibn Ghattus into a more vigorous (and legible) hand with some recovered roundness. Hence, it seems reasonable to date this specimen to the first half of the 13th century.

Despite the political and cultural twinning between al-Andalus and the African Maghrib in this period, it seems that the vogue for Qur'ānic manuscripts in diminutive scripts never crossed the Straits of Gibraltar; therefore, this particular type of calligraphy is often labelled 'Andalusī'.[3]

The illumination is miniaturised but abundant: clusters of three golden dots in triangular formation for single-verse markers; foliated golden hā's for fifth-verse markers; golden roundels encircled by red and blue dots for tenth-verse markers. In the right margin of folio 1 verso, the ritual prostration recommended upon reciting āya 41:37 is indicated by a golden medallion inscribed with an interlaced five-pointed star, enclosing the word sajada. In the left margin of folio 2 recto, a different golden medallion marks the completion of the fourty-eighth ḥizb of the Qur'ān at 41:46.

The heading of sūrat al-Shūrā on folio 2 verso is written in a golden angular script, and it counts fifty verses instead of the fifty-three of modern standard editions. In the right margin, a typical medallion of interweaved leafy stems. Note how the basmala at the beginning of this sūra is symmetrically divided into two equal parts through the mashq ("extension") of the letter ḥā' of raḥmān, a typically Maghribī convention contrasting with the eastern practice of extending the letter sīn of bismi-l-lāh.[4]

Similar ornamentation and layout are found in a single-volume muṣḥaf from the British Library (Ms. Or. 1270) also attributed to Valencia or Córdoba. It has a slightly larger format, but features 24 lines per page and a more compact script.

Refrences:
[1] ROSSER OWEN, Mariam, Islamic Arts from Spain, London 2010, p. 70.
[2] JAMES, David, The Master Scribes: Qur'ans of the 11th to 14th centuries AD, The N. D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, II, London 1992, pp. 89-91.
[3] KHEMIR, Sabiha, 'The Arts of the Book', in J. Dodds (ed.), Al-Andalus: the Art of Islamic Spain, New York 1992, p. 116.
[4] BLAIR, Sheila, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh 2006, p. 226.
[5] LINGS, Martin, SAFADI, Yasin Hamid, The Qur'ān, World of Islam Festival Exhibition, London 1979, p. 38 n. 44.

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