Thread. Chester Beatty Library Is.1404, a muṣḥaf attributed to caliph ‘Uthman
1/6. The CBL keeps 201 leaves from a huge vertical Qur’ān. It was recently finely restored by @iamkristinesr. This was an occasion for carrying complementary investigations, like multispectral images
1/6. The CBL keeps 201 leaves from a huge vertical Qur’ān. It was recently finely restored by @iamkristinesr. This was an occasion for carrying complementary investigations, like multispectral images
@iamkristinesr 2/6. The manuscript has large dimensions. One entire skin was needed for 1 bifolio (= 2 folios). 201 ff. corresponds approx. to HALF of the complete original volume (there is no division into ajza’). So, around 200 sheep/goats/calves were sacrificed for producing this huge volume
@iamkristinesr 3/6. Illumination is used for sura headbands. We preserve 34 of them. The ornamental vocabulary mixes geometrical shapes with vegetal components, inspired from the Umayyad art (see Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi for ex.). Titles/number of verses are added in red.
@iamkristinesr 4/6. Regarding its script style (the thick O.II in Déroche classification) layout, dimensions and ornaments, this manuscript is close to DAM 20-33.1, the famous manuscript found in Sanaa and attributed by scholars to the Umayyad caliph al-Walid.
@iamkristinesr 5/6. Its provenance is enigmatic. It was in Fu’ah in the Egyptian delta in 1905, as Moritz published some of its folios in his Arabic Palaeography. The CBL has no acquisition reports for this ms. But according to E. Whelan, correspondence files at the Library contain some clues.
@iamkristinesr 6/6. It was purchased from A. S. Yehuda, famous collector and mss dealer. In 1928, Yehuda wrote to Beatty: "Am offering Cufic house [Qur’an], it was hard to get it, as the owners belong to a 5 centuries old noble family". So, it was maybe in private hands rather than in a mosque.
