Memory > Qur'an by Two Brothers
Qur'an
Text: likely Anatolia, 657 AH/1256 CE, signed by Masʿūd b. ʿAbd al-Malik al-Ghiyāthī (calligraphy) and Maḥfūẓ b. ʿAbd al-Malik al-Ghiyāthī (illumination)
Binding: Iran, 19th century, signed by Khwaja Lutf-Allah Sahhaf
Velvet, leather, paper, and metallic foil over pasteboard
MS Or. 263
This Qur’an juzʿ, or single volume from a thirty-piece set, is one such piece. It was originally copied in 657 AH/1256 CE by two brothers, Masʿūd and Maḥfūẓ, sons of ʿAbd al-Malik al-Ghiyāthī. Based on the calligraphy, illumination, and mise-en-page, it is likely that they worked in Anatolia under the Seljuqs of Rum. Yet the book survived thereafter in an as-yet unidentified library endowment (waqf), as gleaned from a partially effaced inscription across the opening frontispiece.
The volume, in its present state, is not complete. It begins with with the verse, “We favored some of these messengers...” (2:253) and ends at “...there will be no one to help them” (3:91). This is cut by a lacuna (ff. 17b-18a) between the word "ṣafwān" (in 2:264) and the later phrase "mā lā ṭāqa" (in 2:286), a loss of about one-sixth of the juzʿ. Given the manuscript's fragile structure, it is difficult to examine its quires to determine whether this loss precedes or follows the most recent binding campaign.
At some point, presumably in the 19th century, a binder by the name of Lutf-Allah Sahhaf was contracted to rebind what remained of the volume. It is unclear if this happened before or after the book's divestment from its waqf. In the present state, Lutf-Allah's binding is unprepossessing. Although bordered textile or maghzi bindings are relatively common (already seen in two other examples), the use here of velvet is unusual. It is possible that, compared to a material like leather, textiles were more affordable and practical for such a large volume. Also striking is the use of relatively flimsy paper medallions, apparently treated to have a silvery appearance, although the effect may have been more pleasing when new. The work was apparently important enough for Lutf-Allah to sign, leaving his name on the small palmettes.