purplefigtree: Leaf from a Quran, al-Andalus, late 12th century. This Qur’an belongs to a sm

purplefigtree:

Leaf from a Quran, al-Andalus, late 12th century.

This Qur’an belongs to a small group of similar Qur’ans all of which were copied in Southern Spain. They are all fairly small, this being one of the larger of the group, and are similar in layout and illumination. All are square, and written in a small neat script which has been described as the Valencian script. Nine of the group have colophons, of which six were copied in Valencia. They have an opening page or pages of illumination, which here is sadly lacking. The sura headings are in gold kufic with illuminated palmettes and the text is written on rather white parchment with tightly spaced lines of around 21-28 lines to the page. […] 

Spanish Qur’ans are few in number compared to North African Qur’ans as many were deliberately destroyed by the Christian conquerors of Spain. None exists in Spain itself with but few remaining in libraries in North Africa and the East, poignant reminders of Spain’s glorious Islamic heritage.

(viaColumbia University)