Book Layout and Stylistic Features of the Golden Quran Preserved in Munich Library

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Farhad Khosravi Bizhaem
Iran, Isfahan, Art University of Isfahan, Department of Calligraphy and Persian Painting.
Abstract
Today, one of the necessities of calligraphy research community and related arts is to identify the evolution of calligraphy pens, especially in the early centuries of Islam. Fortunately, in recent years, in addition to historical researches, valuable researches have been done in stylistic studies and artistic features of various calligraphy pens, which will certainly help to understand Islamic calligraphy more and better, and complete its evolution. Identifying and introducing the features of the various manuscripts of the Holy Quran is one of the solutions that speeds up this process. The "Golden Quran" is one of the unique manuscripts in the history of Islamic calligraphy which is kept in Bavarian State Library in Munich these days. In the museum index of this artwork, the history of the 11th century A.D. is mentioned and it is considered to belong to Iran or Iraq. The name of this artwork is because of thin gold cover on all its pages. This Quran does not have any signatures and transcription date, however, according to initial studies, it can be said that it is transcribed under Ibn al-Bawwab’s style- the 10th A.D. well-known calligrapher. Exaggerated stretching “س”  letter in بسم الله at the beginning of the surahs, using colorful inks like white, brown, lac next to black ink, minor tendency of vertical letters to the left side, compact writing of words, at the same time of distinct writing are those points that can be analyzed according to relating this artwork to Ibn al-Bawwab’s style. In addition, in this research, items such as page layout order as well as rules of usage and decorative patterns of markings used at the beginning of the surahs, the end of the verses and the margins of the pages have been studied.

Keywords

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