Single parchment folio, Shelfmark: KFQ 84; Qurʾānic Text: ; Lines per page: 5; Dimensions: 146 x 210 mm; Script style: kūfī, type D; Estimated date of production: 900-1000.
François Déroche writes about this fragment (The Abbasid Tradition, London 1992, p. 67): "19 / Single folio / 9th century AD / 14.6x21 cm, with 5 lines to the page / Material Parchment; the recto is the hair side / Text area 7.5x14 cm / Script Close to style D.I / Accession no. KFQ 84 / Published Sotheby's, London, 13 October 1989, lot no. 77 / Other fragments from the same Qurʾan Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS. arab. 5178f (Déroche 1983, no. III), Tunis, National Library, MS. Rutbi 198 (Shabbuh 1956, pp. 353-4 and pl. 6; al-Buhli al Niyal 1963, no. 2, where two folios with a shortened version of the waqfiyyah are illustrated; Lings&Safadi 1976, nos 16 and 17; Paris 1982, no. 346); Geneva 1985, no. 1; Kairouan, Islamic Art Museum (two folios; Lings&Safadi 1976, nos 18 and 19 and pl. 111; Paris 1982, nos 347-8); Sotheby's, London, 15 October 1984, lot nos 218-19; 25 June 1985, lot no. 5; 21-2 November 1985, lot nos 290-91; 22 May 1986, lot no. 248; 1 June 1987, lot no. 78; 11 April 1988, lot no. 114; 10 October 1988, lot no. 170; 10 April 1989, lot no. 169; and 26 April 1990, lot no. 140; Christie's, London, 9 October 1990, lot no. 45; and Sotheby's, London, 11 October 1991, lot. no. 892. / This folio came from a multi-part Qurʾan which is known to have been kept in Kairouan. Together with the Blue Qurʾan (see cat. 42), it is one of the most celebrated instances of chrysography. This practice was already in use in the early 8th century AD, for Ibn al-Nadim related how, after Khalid ibn Abiʾl-Hayyaj had designed an inscription in gold for the mosque at Medina, the caliph ʿOmar II asked him to write a copy of the Qurʾan in the same fashion (Huart 1908, pp. 71-2). / The text is Sūrat Sabāʾ (XXXIV), verses 43-4, written in gold and outlined in brown ink. The diacritical marks are unusually precise: they mostly consist of strokes, but minute letters ʿayn and rāʾ distinguish these letters from their homographs. The vocalization is indicated by red dots, while green dots mark hamzah, and blue dots mark both shaddah and the vowel. A gold 3.1.4 device marks the end of every verse."
See also the detailed catalogue entry "Qatar National Library HC.MS. 2017.0053" (Marcus Fraser) which gives a list of over 110 leaves from this Qur’ān that are known and widely dispersed.
- Déroche, François: The Abbasid Tradition. Qurʾans of the 8th to the 10th centuries AD. Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, London 1992.
