Thread by @BaytAlFann

Most ancient Qur’an manuscripts are now fragments scattered around the world in museums, libraries & collections

Kufic script is one of the oldest forms of Arabic calligraphy, & was used as a preferred script for the Qur’an, many fragments are found in global museums

A thread…

Folio from the "Tashkent Qur'an"
late 8th–early 9th century

Magnificent in size, this folio comes from one of the oldest surviving Qur'an manuscripts in existence. It is written in an early version of the kufic script with no diacritical marks to distinguish the letters

@LACMA

Qur'an (Koran) page (detached) 9thC-10thC Iraq

eleven lines of Kufic script in black ink on vellum recto and verso; vocalisations shown with red dots; traces of binding on the right.

@britishmuseum

Page from a large Qur’an in kufic script
Associated place
Syria (possible) (possible place of creation)
late 8th century - early 9th century AD

@AshmoleanMuseum

Qur'an leaf in Eastern Kufic script
Iran, Date 11th century (1001–1100)

@artinstitutechi

Qur'an page in Kufic script, Middle East or North Africa, 800 to 900 AD
Qur'an page in Kufic script

@V_and_A

Two folios from the Blue Qur'an
al-Qayrawān
c. 900

Originally the Blue Qur'an was a seven-volume set, one intact in the national library of Tunisia. Over fifty folios of this Qur'an are now dispersed, in public & private museums worldwide.

@CBL_Dublin

Leaf from Qur'an Manuscript Middle East 800-900

By 750 Qur'an manuscripts were written on leaves of parchment that were wider than they were long. This 'horizontal' format probably served to distinguish them from other books. The style of script employed, called Kufic

@V_and_A

Unknown North African, Middle Eastern, and Near Eastern
Folio from a Qur'an manuscript
late 9th century
Qairawan, Tunisia

@MFAH

Decorated Text Page (Sūrat al-An‘ām 6:119-121)
North African
Possibly Kairouan, Tunisia (Place Created)
9th century

@GettyMuseum

Qur'an Manuscript Folio 800s
North Africa, Aghlabid or Abbasid, 9th century

@ClevelandArt

Qurʾan, twenty-one leaves
Iraq, before 911.
Formerly bound in 1940 in dark blue gold-tooled morocco by Marguerite Duprez Lahey; rebound by Deborah Evetts in full natural Irish linen in 1984.

@MorganLibrary

Folio from the "Blue" Qur'an, 9th-10th century
The “Blue” Qur’an, named after the rich, indigo-dyed parchment used for its folios, is one of the most extraordinary luxury manuscripts ever created. The Kufic script was executed using the technique of chrysography

@brooklynmuseum

This copy of the Qur’an in an early kufic script is most likely from the 9th century. Like earlier Qur’ans it was written on vellum.

@britishlibrary

Folio from a manuscript of the Qur'an
manuscript folio
9th-10th centuries
Abbasid period

@harvartmuseums

Folio with Kufic script
3rd century AH/AD 9th century (Abbasid)

Kufic script is named after the city of Kufa in central Iraq, despite no link between that city & the script has ever been determined.

@walters_museum

Folio from the "Blue Qur'an"
second half 9th–mid-10th century

This folio comes from a sumptuous, multivolume Qur'an with indigo pages and silver verse markers that was probably copied in North Africa.

@metmuseum

Juz' 5 of the Khayqani Qur'an
Iran
c. 900

The Khayqani Qur'an is an important early example of the Arabic script known as "New Style" (also called eastern kufic), which developed gradually in Qur'anic calligraphy away from the more angular kufic script.

@CBL_Dublin

Folio from a Qur’an, sura 54:13-23
Date: 993
Iran

@NatAsianArt

Arabic script is more than a tool for transmitting ideas, & can be considered an artistic expression.

@CellardEleonore looks at the aesthetics of Kufic script from Qur’anic manuscripts to illustrate this!

Read ‘The Art of the Word’ by @CellardEleonore
baytalfann.com/post/heritage

Thank you so much @MuseumsinArabia we are grateful for your support 💙