Section from a Qur'an Manuscript

Unknown

9th–early 10th century · Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on parchment · Islamic Art

Like many early Qur’an folios, this example is written in parchment in black ink using a broad-nibbed reed pen. The emphatically elongated letters seen here are characteristic of early kufic Qur’ans on parchment, and are thought to be a response to the shift to the horizontal format of the rectangular page. The angular script is moderated by the roundness of several letters that look like large black dots, their inner blank spaces reduced almost to a needlepoint. Red dots indicate the vowel marks, while rosette patterns mark the ends of verses.

Artist

Unknown

Date

9th–early 10th century

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on parchment

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1940