Abstract
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.
Highlights
Among the lesser-known treasures of the Bavarian State Library in Munich is a small Qurān, kept under the shelf mark Cod. arab. 4, which once belonged to via free access bongianino the German humanist Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter (1506–1557).[2]
The left and right margins of each page are scored in dry point, delimiting a written area that measures 11×10.5cm and features 23 lines of miniature Maghribī calligraphy
The codex has been variously attributed to the 11th, 12th, 13th, and even 14th century, which is indicative of the still inadequate state of scholarship on the history of Quranic calligraphy and illumination in al-Andalus and the Maghrib.[4]
Summary
It is not unusual to find in the colophons of 12th-century Andalusī Qurāns references to the patrons for whom they were produced. The Qurān copied for the prince Abū Yaqūb features the simple expression “mimmāamala-hu [...] li-[...]”, translatable as “made by [...] for [...]”, and a similar turn of phrase appears in the Qurān dedicated to Ibn Bīṭash alMakhzūmī (“kāna kamālu-hu li-[...]”, meaning “completed for [...]”) In both these colophons, the calligrapher’s name appears before that of the patron, and the patron is not the subject of any verb; in other words, his agency is somewhat downplayed. We are confronted with a manuscript that, small, likely resulted from a collaboration between (at least) two individuals, a calligrapher and an illuminator, just like the Qurān dedicated to the prince Abū Yaqūb This adds to the extraordinary features of the codex, especially since we know that, in 12th-century al-Andalus, Quranic copyists were skilled illuminators, perfectly able to see to all aspects of book production. Bongianino “written and illuminated by [...] (kataba-hu wa-dhahhaba-hu ...)”.12 a miniature Maghribī Qurān in the Saxon State and University Library of Dresden was completed in 580/1184 by a certain Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAlī al-Murrī (or al-Marī, i.e. from Almería), who “wrote, vocalized, and illuminated it (kataba-hu wa-ḍabaṭa-hu wa-dhahhaba-hu)”.13
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
