Manuscript Koran Leaf

This is an original manuscript leaf from an early 18th century Arabic Koran. Written on fine hand-made paper, in an unusual Maghrebi Sudani script with letter-pointing and full vocalization in red and highlighted with saffron.The Maghrib, the western part of the Islamic empire ( which included all the Arab countries west of Egypt and until 1492 also parts of Spain), evolved its own distinct form of Islamic art, and, with it, calligraphy?The Sudani style was first used in Timbuktu – a town which became the most important Islamic center in sub-Sahara region. (Ref: Gaur, A History of Calligraphy,p.96).For Islam, calligraphy is the queen of the arts. Everything is subservient to the Word. The best artists became adept not in reproducing, say, the human form or landscape, but rather in illuminating God’s Word” ( Smithsonian Book of Books, p. 52).

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