| Qur'an |
| Qur'an, lacking 3 folios (p. 347-352 = Surah 18:52-99) (Meccan system) |
|
| O.I. 12067 |
| paper ; 25.5 x 31.5 cm |
| The copy, including the covers, is 10.5 cm thick. Several of the folios have been
replaced, many have been mended, and others are torn. Many of the margins have been
patched, usually with a thinner and lighter paper. The outer lower corners have suffered
the most, mainly through much thumbing and turning. Whole sections of the upper parts
of pages are disfigured with what looks like mildew stains. Many of the marginal
ornaments have been lost or removed and their places filled by patches. Originally
a complete copy, the codex now lacks 3 folios (p. 347-352), which have been torn out.
The decorations on some juz' pages are lost and replaced by blank paper. Whatever
the substance of the decorative matter used, it did not stand the test of time. It
has dried up, cracked, and peeled off, leaving damaged pages and margins. 4 folios
at the beginning (p.1-8) and 10 at the end (p. 677-696) are later additions. This
paper is thin, very light in color, and well glossed. It is of European manufacture
with watermarks. Pages 1 and 695 show the capital letters GFA; pages 7 and 679 show
a swan with outstretched wings. Pages 293-296 are also later additions, but are undated.
The paper is of Italian make and has as watermark the name "Andrea Galvani Pordenone,"
plus a well-drawn crescent with a face in profile. The manuscript is bound. |
| 348 folios with 11-17 lines per page in Arabic |
| Source of description: On recto and verso: Qur'an |
| The front flyleaf has several Turkish notations written in a mediocre Turkish hand.
The main manuscript has no reading symbols or notations. The text has several major
and minor scribal errors, some of which seem to have been corrected by the original
scribe (p. 146). Other corrections have been made in at least 6 different hands.
The first, middle, and last line of each page are written in thuluth covering the
whole width of the writing space and dividing the page into 2 sections, each of which
contains usually 6 shorter centered lines in naskhi. There are several instances
of a naskhi line ending the page and 1 instance of 2 naskhi lines ending the page.
The execution of the thuluth lines is fairly good on the whole, though there are several
cases of poor writing and overcrowding. Frequently, these lines are extended well
into the margins. There is a tendency to slant the lower thuluth line upward. The
naskhi script is fair. The ink is heavy and very black, and the writing is smudged
in several instances. The text is fully pointed and voweled in the same black ink.
With the pages that were added later, both the thuluth and nasikh scripts are well-executed
and the writing is not as heavy or as crowded as the original manuscript. The text
is fully pointed and voweled. The scribe has usually written the maddah twice, first
in black and then in red on a larger scale. The scribe used the full punctuation
system in red ink. Pages 293-296 are in a different hand and on different paper,
both more like the original manuscript than are the 1846 additions. The watermark
is writen in a large Spencerian hand. The scripts of the text are well-executed and
the text is fully pointed and voweled. A late hand has inserted floral transfers
to p. 2, 166, and 695. |
| Bukhara (according to Moritz's notation; see Abbott p. 73)
|
| Arabic |
| 1409-1410 A.D.
|
| The date of the manuscript (812 A.H.) is given on p. 395. Later additions are dated
1262 A.H. (1846 A.D.) on p. 695. At juz' divisions, the term waqf, the words waqf
min kalam, or the phrase waqf min kalam Allah appears. There seems to be a fuller
waqf notation at the end of juz' 21 on p. 487. The measurements of the script sections
vary from 19-22.5 x 25.5-26.5 cm. The margins are outlined in red. The verses are
marked off by a small 6 petaled rosette in green and gold. Groups of 5 and 10 verses
are not noted. Each surah starts a new line without any title or comment and usually
without any extra spacing. In 2 instances, the surah begins with a large thuluth
line. On the outer margin of each page is a large circular ornament of red and gold,
framed in a scroll pattern of green. All juz' divisions start on right-hand pages,
leaving the preceding page blank if necessary. These pages are ornamented with panels
of red, gold, and green stretching across the top and bottom of the page. Each panel
is divided into 2 squares and a central rectangle, this last containing the juz' number
written in black ink in thuluth script. The juz' number is in most cases followed
by a phrase designating the Qur'an. From juz' 24 on, the space in the panels is occupied
by the number alone. The manuscript is bound between two wooden boards covered with
heavy dark red-brown leather. The flap and the section joining it to the back cover
are made of several layers of paper so compact that they feel like wood. They are
encased in leather. The back is reinforced on the top and bottom with a heavy headband
of cream and tan silk cord. A large centered arabesque and a small one above and
below it are blind-tooled on each of the covers. A one is blind-tooled on the flap.
The inside of the binding is faced with marble paper; the flyleaves are of this same
paper, which carries the same watermark as pgs. 293-296. Over the upper part of the
inside of the back cover and flap, a piece of green cotton cloth has been clumsily
pasted as reinforcement. |
| Location: Oriental Institute |
| Pub. status: Published: recto and verso |
| Karahisar; Islam; Qur'an; Literary; paper |
| Siraj Amin Effendi; Sergeant Hajji ' Uthman; Isma' il Effendi; ' Ali; Ahmad Salih; ' Uthman Muhammad; Hajji Hafiz Khairi Effendi |
 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License. |