Chinese Qur'an - Quran Chapter Bi-folio - 1760

A highly desirable bi-folio from an 18th Century Chinese Qur'an (circa 1760), which contains scripture from the Meccan chapter 77 Surat Al-Mursalat (Those Winds Sent Forth), final verses v:41-50 which contrast the ultimate reward of the righteous with the stubborn arrogance and final regret of those who reject faith. Below the test on the left folio is an illuminated gold and polychrome panel with arabesque scrollwork, which ends the chapter.

It is written in elegant Muhaqqaq script, characterised by bold left leaning extended upstrokes of the pen, well-spaced ligatures, and shallow and sweeping horizontal sublinear flourishes. It is 'meticulously produced' as the name implies. During the caliphate of al Ma'mun (813-833) it became the preferred style of the Warraqun (professional scribes) to enable relatively easy reproduction. It also suggests the brush strokes associated with Chinese calligraphy, and is often referred to as sini (Chinese) Arabic. Elaborate Gold 'aya' mark the specific verses.

There is some foxing and water staining together with a repair patch to the left leaf above the illumination - see images. However this does not detract from the interest of a bi-folio that is nearly 300 years old and with significant Sino-Arabic interest.

Please note that shipping costs are not solely the cost of the postal delivery service itself. Included within the shipping price is the work undertaken to research the article, to mount it, for photography, for uploading to Catawiki, for preparation and packaging the article securely and for transporting the article to the postal delivery agent for processing. 



Also, please consider when bidding on this lot that this artwork is shipped from the UK. Import duties will now have to be paid by the recipient to the Postal Service when the parcel arrives in your country. This will likely vary between 5% and 20% of the sale price depending on your country's Import Rate, so please check this if you are concerned. This is a Tax collected on behalf of your Government and is not an additional fee charged by us.

Regrettably for our German buyers there is an additional customs charge of Euro10 which we have added to the shipping costs as we are obliged to pay this due to new customs legislation in Germany.