A journey to search my soul

This is a blog of my personal collections. The purpose of this blog is to educate myself and public in regards to antiquities especially related to religion and calligraphy. I welcome everyone to input their feedback in this blog which they think would be helpful. I do not watermark the photos in this blog so everyone is free to use them as long as they are not used for illegal and unethical reasons. I appreciate if you could notify me if you plan to use any of the photos here. Enjoy browsing!!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Ancient Manuscript Review 04 : Antique Sudanese or Sub Saharan Quran ( 1005 AH)








 
This is a handwritten Quran acquired from Africa in 2008. From the design & calligraphy, this Quran most likely from Sudan or West Africa. A similar Quran was sold in an auction in Christie under Sale 4795/ Lot 397 for USD3824.
A recent auction in Christie's an undated 19th Quran similar to this was sold for USD7680 under Sale 11007 / Lot 353 / Oct09,2015 in London.

Scroll down to see the full spec.
The thing that make this Quran interesting is its unique calligraphy typical African & one of the oldest Qurans in my possession ( about 500 years old). Its dimension is 230x170mm. This Quran is nicely written with some African motive decorating some of the pages. Its written in sepia sudani script on unbound leaves.
Interesting to note that there is some pages with strange symbol as below. Is this a Talisman? I have seen similar symbols on my other Quran from Yemen and Somalia.

Quran Specs :
Complete Koran
230 x 170 mm
Decorated Hardcover binding
Clear Sudani script in black ink without bordeer
Vowels and diacritical signs are in red
African Motive on some pages
Copiyst : Yusuf Muhamad Burhan
Date : 1005 AH ( 1596 CE)
Market Price : USD6,000 - USD10,000

3 comments:

  1. I know this isn't a complete Qur'an with loose folios. The price should have gone for at least $45.000 to $85.000, and why wasn't the hand tooled leather pouch explained or shown? Was there any watermarks displayed in the folios? I am a librarian of a privately family owned library from Timbuktu, Mali. All the Qur'ans (around 60 are loose folios and all of them are incomplete, but beautiful and unique.)

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    Replies
    1. Salam brother
      Thank you for your feedback. This Quran is complete without any missing pages. I have counted before and counted again today. All pages are smooth with catch word on bottom left of recto page matching the beginning word on the verso page with total pages of 590 pages. There is a 3 crescents watermark. Yes you are right I need to update this page on this information. I hope to connect with you so I can learn from you. Thank you brother.

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  2. I have also an old Quran. Where can I found knowledge how old this subject is? It a handwritten Quran on leaves of a goat-sheep.

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