The manuscript has a signed colophon, but the place of copying is not mentioned. āyāt) in a sura - as is the case in this manuscript - traditionally the individual verses are not numbered. Although headings often indicate the number of verses (sing. In this manuscript, the red sura headings are written in the gold cartouches above the textblocks. Each sura has a heading stating its name and whether it was revealed at Mecca or Medina. In the Islamic tradition, the suras are identified by their names - for example, al-Fatīḥa (the Opening) and al-Baqara (the Cow) - not by their number, that is: suras 1 and 2. The even distribution of the text on the opening pages - there are seven lines in each block - supports the symmetrical composition: the short sura 1 ( sūrat al-Fatīḥa) on the right side is placed opposite the beginning of sura 2 ( sūrat al-Baqara). The pages are designed as mirror images with the marginal band of gold lobes holding the two blocks of text together. The two pages together form a rich image for which the gutter functions as the axis of a symmetrical composition. The opening pages of this eighteenth-century manuscript illustrate important conventions of Quran manuscripts. Smith, 1931 Click here for item information Colophon signed by Muḥammad Muḥsin al-Iṣfahānī, dated Ramaḍān 1154/November 1741ĭonated by David E.

Illuminated manuscript quran