A 16th Century Mughal Qur’an

THE QUR’AN

About the pages we place inside our pendants.

We have used high-quality copies of pages from the Quran, which are our lawful property.

Once, by chance — although chance is in fact a form of inevitability — we acquired a remarkable and rare miniature octagonal Quran measuring just 28 millimetres.

The pages of this remarkable book are handwritten with devoted attention, with love and dedication. Even now, centuries later, anyone who comes into contact with this book feels this unconditional love and dedication of the master who created this masterpiece.

The pages placed inside our pendants are, as mentioned above, high-quality copies of this unique wonder. We wish to share with you the same sense of joy that this unique book gives us.

For your information, we present the text of the auction house from which this 16th-century masterpiece was acquired.

16th century Mughal Qur'an illuminated page

From the Auction House

“An Illuminated Miniature Quran from the second half of the 16th century, Empire of the Great Mughal or Timurid Empire. It is believed that this Quran was copied for Emperor Akbar the Great (1556–1605) by his vizier, and was worn as an amulet on the arm of the Emperor.

The Quran was brought to England in the early 19th century by the private secretary to the Governor-General after his thirty-year service in India.

There are two letters extant relating to the provenance of this Quran from the early 19th century.

In the first letter, Mary Crease, daughter of the private secretary to the Governor-General, relates how she attempted to sell this Quran in the early 19th century to the Sultan of Turkey through the secretary of the British Embassy in Constantinople. However, the negotiations were not successful.

The second letter, from Charles Rieu, Professor of Arabic and Persian at Cambridge and London Universities and Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum, explains that, in his opinion, the Museum would not have the necessary means to purchase the Quran.

Description: Handwritten in Arabic, written in octagonal shaped paper in ghubari (or “dust” in Arabic) script, 266 pages in total, plus four miniature covers, in gilded decorative ornament in Ottoman style.”

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