A Qur'an leaf with illumination attributed to Sandal, Egypt, Mamluk, circa 1300-10

Ex-private Collection, UK

Bonhams, London, 12 October 2006, lot 8

This Qur’an leaf comes from a small group of Qur’ans, including the Baybars al-Jashnagir Qur’an in the British Library, that can be attributed to the atelier of one of the master illuminators of Mamluk Cairo, Abu Bakr, known as Sandal. Whereas the main text of Qur’ans was copied according to strict rules, there was great variation in the way in which the ornamental headings might be written.

The surah heading in ornamental Kufic is extremely close to those in a Qur’an illuminated by Sandal in the Chester Beatty library (James 1988, cat. no.3). A further folio from the present manuscript was formerly in the Lygo Collection, London (Kwiatkowski 2013, pp.100-1, no.59). Another leaf from this manuscript was sold in these rooms, 30 April 2025, lot 541.