Folio from a Qur'an (verso)
Unknown Artist
800s
Medium
Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on parchment
Dimensions
{"sheet":{"height":0.237,"width":0.337},"text area":{"height":0.185,"width":0.25}}
Classification
Drawing
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Edward L. Whittemore Fund
Accession Number
1933.493.b
About this artwork
The sacred book of Islam, the Qur'an is believed by Muslims to be a literal transcription of the word of God, spoken in Arabic to the Prophet Muhammad (died 632). In order to convey the importance of the divine word, Arabic calligraphy—sometimes highly elaborate and embellished with gold—was used to create copies of the Qur'an.This folio was written in the oldest style of Arabic calligraphy, called Kufic script, used in earliest surviving copies of the Qur'an. The wide format of the page is well...