Third cüz of a Koran

1440 civarı

Sabancı Üniversitesi Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi (Emirgan, İstanbul, Türkiye)

The opening spread of the cüz (twenty-page section of the Koran) is richly illuminated (ff. 1r-2v). The surah heading is written in pale blue kufi script inside a cartouche decorated with gold rumi scrolls, and red rumi motifs in the corners. The pages are encircled by a broad ruled gold border, which on f. 2v is filled with a cable band. In both margins there is a triangular lappet and two small medallions filled with gold rumi motifs. Only one other page of the manuscript has a ruled gold border. The verse stops and marginal rosettes marking each five-page section are plain gold.1 The illumination of gold rumi motifs painted directly onto the sized paper is a typical feature of books produced by Memluks and Anatolian artists in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.2 The binding with flap has covers of dark chestnut coloured leather. In the centre of the covers is a medallion with a palmette-shaped pendant. The medallion and small cornerpieces are filled with tooled decoration consisting of interlacing bands, while the borders are filled with battlement-like motifs executed with a tiny square die. The intaglio parts of the tooled motifs are gilded. The doublures of dark beige paper with gold flecks date from repairs carried out in the 20th century. Similar decoration to that on the covers can be seen on 14th century Anatolian and Memluk bindings,3 and on Ottoman bindings dating from the mid-15th century.4 Decoration on the covers of a Koran in the Khalili Collection produced for the Ottoman bureaucrat Mercan Ağa around 1460 identical to that on our cüz binding;5 identical doublure decoration on some books produced for Umur Bey in Bursa;6 and similarity of the opening double spread illumination of this cüz in Sakıp Sabancı Museum to the triangular fields filled with rumi motifs on the bindings of early 15th century Ottoman books7 all suggest that this manuscript may have been produced in Bursa around the mid-15th century.

Detail

Collection:

Kitap Sanatları ve Hat Koleksiyonu

Title:

Third cüz of a Koran

Date:

1440 civarı

Dimensions:

35 x 25 cm

Medium:

Sized paper, blue ink, gold

Location:

Sabancı Üniversitesi Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi (Emirgan, İstanbul, Türkiye)

Object Number:

102-0047-X

Third cüz of a Koran

Detail

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