Hawzah News Agency- In keeping with a distinct trend of religious texts performing well at auctions these past two years, four out of five of the top lots are all related to the Quran. This includes the top lot, a large Mamluk Quran from the late 1470s, estimated between £300,000-500,000 (around US$397,000-662,000).

Other pieces that graced the top lot include a bronze candlestick with touches of gold and silver placed into it. An extremely rare Raqqa ware tile from the first half of the 13th century, a wood and bone box from when Muslims ruled parts of Spain, and a brass astrolabe from Morocco.

The Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517) was a vast empire that, at its peak, ruled from what is now southern Turkey through modern-day Egypt. In addition to their geopolitical and historical importance, the Mamluks were also known for their culture and arts, especially decorative arts such as glasswork, textiles, and woodwork, all of which became famed around the Mediterranean region.

However, perhaps the most common and praised within Mamluk art and culture was the development of decorative manuscripts, especially the Quran. These highly intricate Qurans were mainly produced in Cairo, Damascus, and Aleppo and had elaborate illumination, a technique applied to manuscripts that involved decorations, flourishes, and illustrations around the text. In Medieval Europe, these were most commonly used for important government and religious texts.

These were often grand and special works dominated by star-shaped or hexagonal geometric motifs. They often contained gilded scrollwork and wide margins, with some being monumental in size, with some being 105 cm in height.

This specific lot has a variety of decorative elements, and elements of the text are written in Naskh, an early form of Islamic calligraphy, while others are written in Thuluth, a form of calligraphy that was commonly seen as a decoration on mosques. These components can be found written in pages that also have illuminated text that has been heavily decorated with gold, red, and blue colors, many of which are organized into patterns that the words blend into.

What sets this lot apart from other Qurans is its origin. Muhammad Abu al-Fadl ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-A’raj lived in the Mamluk Empire and was a scribe and copyist who worked for Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri (r. 1501-16). Many of the scribe’s works would go on to be highly praised in the region, with nine of his manuscripts being found in the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, which was originally the palace of the Ottoman Sultans.

The Sultan was a key patron of the arts who not just appreciated them but harnessed them as a political tool to improve his image in the public and curry favor and reward loyal allies. He commissioned public buildings and directed decorators to produce traditional arts and objects to display in these places. He also oversaw the repair and restoration of Islam’s two holy cities of Mecca and Medina when the Mamluks ruled over the region.

Qurans, such as this one, were also commonly commissioned by Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri. Many of these were extremely large in scale, and some have also hit the auction floor in recent years. This includes a Quran made by the scribe Tanam al-Najmi in 1489 and sold by Christie’s London on May 2, 2019, for around £3.7 million (around US$4.9 million), after being estimated as the exact same as this lot currently on offer and having similar characteristics.

Source: THE VALUE