Quran (North Africa (Morocco?), late 16th or early 17th century)

MS 107

Another one of Archbishop Laud’s Qurans

This Quran had belonged to Kenelm Digby before it came into the possession of Archbishop William
Laud.

‘The titles of the first two sūrahs on folio 1b are written in Kufic using gilt on red and blue opaque watercolour grounds and enclosed in frames of a plaited gilt design inside a blue-ink frame. There
are illuminated medallions attached to the frames and extending into the margins. On folios 50b,
102b and 151b three other sūrah titles are written in Kufic (in white on red or green grounds) and
surrounded by similar illuminated frames of plaited design with attached medallions. The titles of the remaining sūrahs are written in Kufic script and filled in with a yellow watercolour. The non-illuminated beginnings of the sūrahs and other important places, such as the fifth and tenth verses of a chapter and places at which ritual prostration is required, are also indicated by marginal medallions and decorative devices executed in coloured inks and opaque watercolours; each appears to be of a slightly different design.
‘The main text is written in a medium-large Maghribī script, fully vocalized, using black ink (fading to a lighter shade) with magenta-red vocalization and overlinear green or yellow dots marking text-stops. The script and decoration are careful and consistent, but not the work of a professional calligrapher or illuminator. Nonetheless, the style of illumination and decoration contains characteristics similar to a Quran (London, British Library, APAC, MS Or.1405) made in 975/1568 for ‘Abd Allāh al-Ghālib (1517-1574), the second ruler of Morocco’s Sa‘did dynasty.
(Savage-Smith, pp. 89-91)

Further Resource
Descriptive catalogue record available at our Digital Library (scroll down to MS 107)