Academic literature on the topic 'Illumination of books and manuscripts, Islamic'

Abstract The arts of the book of late medieval Rum (Anatolia) constitute a rich resource for Islamic art historians that remains relatively unknown in the wider scholarship. This complex period saw the disintegration of Seljuk rule and the partial absorption of the region into the Ilkhanid realm. Konya (present-day central Turkey), the former Seljuk capital, was hardly isolated from its better-known neighbors and was evidently an active center for the patronage of the arts of the book. This article contributes to ongoing discussions concerning late medieval Islamic manuscripts by discussing illuminations that were produced by Mukhlis ibn ʿAbdallah al-Hindi in thirteenth-century Konya. One of the two named illuminators active in the city, Mukhlis extensively decorated two manuscripts, both in 677h (1278): a small Qurʾan and a monumental copy of Jalal al-Din Rumi’s Mas̱navī. Both are the initial focus of the article. Following an analysis of these manuscripts, the article presents additional material as possible products of Mukhlis’s hand or of Konya generally, demonstrating both the relative visual distinctiveness of Konya illumination and the need to potentially re-examine works previously attributed to Egypt or Persia.

Arabic script existed before the arrival of Islam, but it's just growing fast since the decline of the Al-Qur'an (Islam). It becomes an inseparable part of the Al-Qur'an and an important part of the mushaf history. Calligraphy has become the art of Islamic art not only because of its beauty, abstract, dynamic, modular structure, and combinative but because it makes Al-Qur'an as an object of creation. This article is a review of a book Khaṭ al-Muṣḥaf al-Syarīf wa Taṭawwuruhu fi al-'Ālam al-Islāmī by Abdul Aziz Hamid Saleh. He studied the development of Qur’anic calligraphy based on Islamic cultural areas: Hijāz, Syām, Iraq, Egypt, Spain, India, Far East, and South East Asia. The steps to reviewing this book are summarizing and analyzing. This book elaborates the science of calligraphy with history of Qur’anic manuscripts in the Islamic world. This paper emphasizes that calligraphy has characteristics that represent the place and the time it was developed. Based on the khat used, a Qur’anic manuscript can be revealed from which region and era it was copied. Therefore, calligraphy is an alternative method for studying the history of Qur’anic manuscripts apart from studying the colophon, types of paper, illumination and radiocarbon dating. Keywords: Islamic calligraphy, Islamic art, Qur’anic manuscript. Tulisan Arab sudah ada sebelum kedatangan Islam. Ia baru berkembang pesat setelah turunnya Al-Qur’an (Islam). Ia menjadi bagian tidak terpisahkan dari Al-Qur’an dan bagian penting dari sejarah mushaf. Kaligrafi menjadi seninya seni Islam bukan saja karena keindahannya, sifat abstrak, dinamis, struktur modular, dan kombinatif tetapi utamanya karena menjadikan Al-Qur’an sebagai objek kreasi. Artikel ini merupakan ulasan atas buku Khat al-Muṣḥaf al-Syarīf wa Taṭawwuruhu fi al-‘Ālam al-Islāmī karya Abdul Aziz Hamid Saleh. Ia mengulas sejarah perkembangan kaligrafi mushaf berbasis wilayah kebudayaan Islam: Hijaz, Syam, Iraq, Mesir, Andalus, India, dan Asia Jauh. Langkah yang dilakukan dalam mengkaji buku ini, yaitu mengikhtisarnya kemudian menelaahnya. Buku ini mengelaborasi ilmu kaligrafi dengan kajian sejarah mushaf al-Qur’an di dunia Islam. Tulisan ini menggaris bawahi sebuah mushaf Al-Qur’an dapat diungkap sejarahnya berdasar khat yang digunakan. Oleh sebab, itu Kaligrafi menjadi metode alternatif untuk menelaah sejarah mushaf Al-Qur’an selain melalui telaah kolofon, jenis kertas, ragam hias, dan uji karbon. Kata Kunci: Kaligrafi Islam, Mushaf Al-Qur’an, Seni Islam.

Abstract This article examines and contextualizes a small Quranic manuscript, copied in al-Andalus in 533/1138–1139, whose importance has so far gone unrecognized. Among its many interesting features are: its early date; its lavish illumination; its colophon and the information contained therein; its system of notation and textual division; its use of different calligraphic styles, including Maghribī thuluth; and a series of didactic notes written at the beginning and end of the codex. Presented in the appendix is an updated list of the extant Qurʾāns in Maghribī scripts dated to before 600/1203–1204, aimed at encouraging the digitization, publication, and comparative study of this still largely uncharted material. The advancement of scholarship on the arts of the book, the transmission of the Qurʾān, and the consumption of Quranic manuscripts in the Islamic West depends upon the analysis of these and many other surviving codices and fragments, related to Cod. arab. 4 of the Bavarian State Library and its context of production.

This study stems from an exhibition/ conference of the same name, “Beyond Words,” presented in Boston in 2006; however, it goes well beyond the bounds of a conventional exhibition catalog, which was produced at the time to accompany the objects on display. The volume produced here expands these initial parameters to consider additional questions about the manuscripts held in these Boston collections, notably Houghton Library at Harvard University, McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston. The book is divided into four major sections, devoted respectively to monastic manuscripts (3 essays), courtly culture and patronage (5 essays), princes, patricians, prelates and pontiffs (4 essays), and illuminating history (3 essays) with a coda on manuscripts in the modern era provided by the final essay. As the editors remark in their introduction, the emphasis is Christian and central European; this is due in part to the collection parameters themselves (the above institutions have no Ethiopian or Hebrew manuscripts, for example) and in part by limitations of time and focus (there are a number of Islamic manuscripts in the Boston collections which have not been included here but would be well worth exploring in a separate study of their own). The richness and depth of the sixteen essays here offer insights into many aspects of the late medieval world. The chapter by Patricia Stirnemann on Gilbert de la Porrée traces book collection of the works of a single, theologically problematic author, and offers a valuable case study on the transmission of writings by a scholar charged (though exonerated) with heresy. Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak demonstrates how the charters of the abbey of Sawley preserved in the Houghton library allow us to consider the “medial role” of document writing, and how this practice assisted an English Cistercian monastery to shape its own representation with its neighbors by crafting records of land ownership disputes. Kathryn M. Rudy examines manuscript workshops among nuns in Delft in the fifteenth century, providing a vivid model of book production practices in these devotional contexts.

Le manuscrit du Coran dit « de la Nourrice » est l'un des plus célèbres de la collection de Kairouan, maintenant conservée au Musée des arts islamiques de Raqqada. Son origine est exceptionnellement bien connue grâce à un texte qui équivaut à un colophon et donne la date d'achèvement en ramadan 410/janvier 1020—ou légèrement plus tôt. Les dimensions remarquables de cette copie (environ 445x300 mm), sa calligraphie spectaculaire et son enluminure frappent l'imagination. Près de 2000 feuillets ont été préservés et une étude détaillée sera nécessaire pour comprendre cet important épisode de la calligraphie et de l'art du livre dans l'Ifriqiya ziride. Le présent article représente une première étape dans cette direction et montre que différents copistes et/ou enlumineurs ont été impliqués dans la réalisation de cet exemplaire en soixante volumes. Il tente de replacer ce superbe manuscrit dans le contexte de son époque. [The so-called ‘Qur'an of the Nurse’ is one of the most famous manuscripts from the Qayrawān collection, now in the Museum of Islamic arts in Raqqada. Its provenance is exceptionally well documented, with the equivalent of a colophon giving the date of completion in Ramaḍān 410/January 1020 or slightly before. The outstanding size of the copy (c. 445x300 mm), and its dramatic calligraphy and illumination capture the imagination. About 2,000 folios have survived and a full study of the manuscript is required in order to understand this important episode of calligraphy and art of the book in Zirid Ifriqiyya. The present paper is a first step towards this goal and shows that various copyists and/or illuminators have been involved in the production of the sixty-volume set. It tries to put this magnificent manuscript into the context of this period.]

“Market literature” in Arabic and ʿAjamī is a particular variety of West African Islamic book culture, which is especially strong in northern Nigerian states. Arabic-script “Nithography” (by analogy to Nollywood, the modern Nigerian film industry) represents a unique phenomenon, although it is reminiscent of the nineteenth-century Islamic lithography in the Middle East. Nigerian “market literature” in Arabic and ʿAjamī has mostly followed the pre-colonial manuscript tradition of Central Sudanic Africa, including writing styles, colophons and glosses. In contrast to Middle Eastern book culture, Nigerian typeset printing largely preceded the era of offset. The innovative elements of offset book design in Nigeria and further perspectives of “Nithography” in Arabic and ʿAjamī are discussed.

The most important reason for the enrichment of decorative arts (especially illumination art) in Islamic societies in various periods is the prohibition of depiction in Islam. The art of illumination, which was mostly used to decorate the Qur'an in different historical periods of Iran, including the Great Seljuk period, was influenced by the arts of previous periods and became a source of creativity and inspiration for Muslims and sometimes non-Muslim artists in other countries. This research was carried out in order to examine the status and general characteristics of illumination art during the Great Seljuk period. The descriptive-analytical method was used in the research. As a result, during the Great Seljuk period, the Qur'an manuscripts were made of paper instead of leather. The richness of motifs, patterns and colours, the use of various colours and geometric arrangements draw attention to the illuminations of this period. According to the results of this study, the most important illumination examples of the Great Seljuk period were used in the Quran manuscripts. In these manuscripts, it is seen that motifs such as schemes, six and eight-pointed stars and golden circles are used to decorate the headlines (serlevha pages), the heads of the sura, the interlines and zahriye parts. In addition, the illumination samples of the Great Seljuk period positively affected the later periods, especially the Ilkhanid and Memlukid periods, as well as all other arts. Great Seljuk elegant illumination samples with the beauty of their patterns, the order and delicacy of the motifs and the use of colours are masterpieces of Islamic art.

This article examines the Qur'anic manuscripts written by Prince Paku Ningrat in 1793 at the Sumenep Palace. Through a philological approach, it aims to know the history and characteristics of the manuscripts. This study found the characteristics of philology in Islamic studies through the characteristics of the Qur'anic manuscripts. There are several patterns that make the Mushaf stand out, such as the illumination on the Mushaf, which is beautiful and full of Madura culture. The use of Rasm script, punctuation, Tajweed and Waqf are characteristics of 18th 18th-century scripts from the post-modern era that are different from modern manuscripts.

Abstract Illustrated and illuminated manuscripts of the Dalāʾil al-khayrāt from Southeast Asia are an invaluable resource for our understanding of the painting tradition of this region. The many copies now kept in various institutions attest to its popularity, while the lavish treatment often given to manuscripts indicates the high regard local communities had for this text. The types of images featured are similar to those from other parts of the Islamic world, yet these images, as well as the decorative illumination, also reflect local artistic styles. This paper examines a selection of Southeast Asian manuscripts of the Dalāʾil al-khayrāt dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, situating them both within the broader context of manuscript production and usage, and the pietistic landscape of the region.

This research examines the manuscripts of the Qur'anic mushaf at the Jogorekso Islamic Boarding School in Gunungpring Magelang by focusing on the aspects of codicology and qirā'at. The Mushaf of the Qur'an at the Jogorekso Islamic Boarding School, Gunungpring, Magelang itself is a manuscript that has been passed down from generation to generation. This Qur'anic manuscript is from the 19th century. The manuscript contains the text of the Qur'an from surah al-Fātiḥah to surah al-Nās. The researcher describes the physical manuscripts using a philological approach, namely codicology and textology. The type of paper used is European paper, as evidenced by the visible light, thick lines and thin lines, and watermarks and countermarks. This manuscript has plant-based and geometric illuminations in three parts, namely the beginning, middle and end. Illumination is also found in every surah in the name of a rectangular sura, also in each juz which is located on each right of the mushaf page which is in the form of a circle with various shapes that tend to be inconsistent. In addition, there are also verse symbols, punctuation marks, recitation signs, and ruk'. The study of qirā'at applied in surah al-Kahf found differences in qirā'at in fifty-five verses and the manuscripts of the Qur'anic manuscripts at the Jogorekso Islamic Boarding School in Gunungpring Magelang have various qirā'at.