Publication Date
Approximately 410 AH / 1019-20 AD
Publication Place
-
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Subject
Ink, watercolor, and gold on parchment
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع : 44.5 سم العرض : 60 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
2.007.191
Record ID
object;EPM;us;Mus23;49;ar
Library Location
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Date
Approximately 410 AH / 1019-20 AD
Notes
The Custodian Qur’an had been ordered to be written as a gift to the Great Mosque of Kairouan by the Custodian of the Zirid ruler Abu Menad Badis Ibn al-Mansur (r. 996-1016 AD). It was written in manuscript form in Kufic, which was unique in North Africa and is distinguished not only by its layout but also by its two sets of inscriptions, which provide documented evidence that it was ordered to be written by a woman servant in the royal house in the Middle Ages. Female workers were associated with the Zirid court, whether with the princesses or in the field of royal service, and this was not an uncommon matter. They were ordered to write the Qur’an to show their wealth and piety. The manuscript was copied on parchment made of animal skin, which remained in use in this region long after the transition to using paper in Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Iran.
Sample Text
“A double page from the Qur’an incubator” within Discover Islamic Art Collections. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus23;49;ar
