Présentation

Part One : Manijeh Bayani, Anna Contadini and Tim Stanley
Part Two : Manijeh Bayani, J.M. Rogers and Tim Stanley

Qur’ans produced in the period after 1600 are included in this fourth volume, which will be published in two parts, each containing entries on some 75 fine examples.

Part One deals mainly with Ottoman, Iranian and Indian Qur’ans of the 17th and 18th centuries. It also includes a range of material from areas outside the Islamic empires, such as China and the Swahili coastlands of East Africa, and there are sections on later Qur’ans from Morocco and from the Sahel regions to the South.

Part Two covers the 19th century in Iran and the Ottoman empire and the manuscripts presented here show that the period was one of sumptuous brilliance where Qur’an production was concerned.

In several cases the essays that introduce each group of manuscripts break new ground. No previous study of Chinese Qur’an production has been published, for example, and the essay on Ottoman Qur’ans from the 17th and 18th centuries is a first attempt to explain the development of Qur’anic calligraphy in this period by combining the evidence of the manuscripts themselves with the accounts of contemporary commentators such as Müstakimzade.

(Source : Khalili Collections)