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The Hamadan Qur'an of Öljaytü: Vestiges of a Binding Tradition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2022

ALISON OHTA
ALISON OHTA*
Affiliation:
Royal Asiatic Society
*
ao@royalasiaticsociety.org
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Abstract

Ilkhanid rule (1256–1353) heralded a period when the arts of the book flourished, with the production of both religious and secular texts. This article examines the binding of the Hamadan Qur'an (Dar al-Kutub, Cairo, Rasid 72), which was commissioned for the Ilkhanid Sultan Öljaytü (1303–1316) and completed in 1313. The Qur'an, composed of 30 parts, has remained intact in the Dar al-Kutub in Cairo since its arrival in Egypt sometime in the 1320s. The decoration of the binding is representative of the geometrical designs that formed part of the Persian binders’ repertoire before being entirely discarded by the middle of the fourteenth century in favour of lobed and ogival medallions with pendants derived from cloud-collar profiles.1

Keywords

BookbindingIlkhanidÖljaytügeometricalMamluk
Type
Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 32 , Special Issue 4: Studies in Honour of Barbara Brend , October 2022 , pp. 743 - 761
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Asiatic Society

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References

1 The term ‘cloud-collar’ is used to refer to the distinctive four-lobed profile borrowed from a term used to describe textile collars on Chinese robes from the Yuan period.

2 Dar al-Kutub (DAK), Cairo, Rasid 72, 56 x 41 cm.

3 Pope, A. U. and Ackerman, P., Survey of Persian Art, Vol. 3, Pl. 934-5 (Oxford, 1938)Google Scholar; Ettinghausen, R., “On the covers of the Morgan Manafi’ manuscript and other early Persian bookbindings”, in Studies in the Art and Literature for Belle da Costa Green, (ed.) Miner, D. (Princeton, 1954), pp. 459–473Google Scholar; B. Gray, “The monumental Qur'ans of the Ilkhanid and Mamluk ateliers of the first quarter of the fourteenth century”, Rivista degli Studi Orientali LIX (1985), pp. 135–146; James, D., Qur'ans of the Mamluks (London, 1988), Cat. 45, pp. 111–126Google Scholar; James, D., Master Scribes, Qur'ans of the 10th to the 14th Centuries (London, 1992), pp. 98–100Google Scholar.

4 Ettinghausen, “On the covers of the Morgan Manafi’ manuscript”, fig. 346; Z. Tanındı, “Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi'nde Ortaçağ İslam Ciltleri”, Topkapı Sarayi Müzesi, Yıllık 4 (Istanbul, 1990), pp. 102–149; Ohta, A., “The binding of the Sultan Uljaytu Qur'an copied in Hamadan and its relationship to other bindings of the Mamluk and Ilkhanid periods”, in Uluslarasi Cilt Sanati Bulusmasi (Istanbul, 2012), pp. 67–74Google Scholar; Blair, S., “The Ilkhanid Qur'an: an example from Maragha”, Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 6 (2015), pp. 174–195CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ben Azzouna, N., Aux origines du classicisme, Calligraphes et bibliophiles au temps des dynasties mongoles (Les Ilkhanides et les Djalayirides 656–814/1258–1411) (Leiden, 2018), pp. 488–524CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 39, pp. 78–95.

6 Bloom, J., “Paper: the transformative medium in Ilkhanid Art”, Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan, (ed.) Komaroff, L. (Leiden, 2013), p. 290Google Scholar; Ahmed, Qadi, Calligraphers and Painters. A Treatise by Qāḍī Aḥmad, Son of Mīr Munshī, (trans.) Minorsky, V. (Washington, 1959), p. 60Google Scholar.

7 James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 40; S. Blair, “Sultan Öljeitü's Baghdad Qur'an: A Life Story” (forthcoming). I would like to thank Sheila Blair for sending me this text which formed a section of her paper given at the symposium held at the Freer and Sackler Galleries in December 2016, as part of the exhibition entitled “The Art of the Qur'an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts”.

8 According to the Mamluk historian al-Yusufi, the building involved 5,000 stonecutters and the dome of the mausoleum was 25 m wide and 50 m high; it has often been commented that the monumentality reflected in his patronage of architecture is also seen in the Qur'ans that he commissioned. Little, D. P., “The founding of Sulṭāniyya, a Mamlūk version”, Iran 16 (1978), p. 178CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Blair, S., “The Mongol capital of Sulṭāniyya ‘The Imperial’”, Iran 24 (1986), pp. 139–151CrossRefGoogle Scholar; B. O'Kane, “Monumentality in Mongol and Mamluk art and architecture”, Art History (December 1996), pp. 499–522.

9 Blair, S., Islamic Calligraphy (Edinburgh, 2006), pp. 245–251CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 40.

11 Blair, S., “Calligraphers, illuminators and painters in the Ilkhanid Scriptorium”, in Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan, (ed.) Komaroff, L. (Leiden, 2006), pp. 167–182Google Scholar.

12 See N. Ben Azzouna and P. Roger-Puyo, “The question of manuscript production workshops in Iran according to Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah al-Hamadhānī's Majmūca Rashīdiyya”, Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 7.2 (2016), pp. 153–191.

13 James translated ‘Dār al-Khayrāt’ as the ‘Abode of Orthodoxy’, but, as Sheila Blair points out, this must refer to the scriptorium set up by Rashid al-Din. See Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, pp. 173–174.

14 King ‘Abdul Aziz Library, Medina, Classification 38/39. I would like to thank Khaled Yossef for drawing my attention to this manuscript.

15 James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, pp. 125–126. The Amir Baktamur met an untimely end as he was killed with his son in 731/1331 on his way to Mecca on the orders of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad who was under the impression that Baktamur intended to poison him. He was later buried with his son in the khānqāh he founded.

16 Rogers, J. M., “Evidence for Mongol-Mamluke relations 1260–1360”, in Colloque Internationale sur l'Histoire du Caire (Leipzig-Berlin, 1973), pp. 385–404Google Scholar; James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, p. 26.

17 Ibn Iyas, Journal d'un Bourgeois du Caire, (trans.) G. Wiet (Paris, 1945), pp. 65–66.

18 B. Liebrenz, “Troubled history of a masterpiece. Notes on the creation and peregrinations of Öljeytü's monumental Baghdad Qur'ān”, Journal of Islamic Manuscripts (2016), pp. 217–238; Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Cod.arab.XLIII; Codices Orientales Bibliothecae Regiae Hafniensis, Vol. II (Copenhagen, 1851), pp. 43–44; Ms.Dresden Eb.444 is accessible online: https://www.qalamos.net/servlets/solr/select?q=%2B%28mymss_mss01%3A*Eb.444*+mymss_mss01text%3A*Eb.444*+mymss_mss01shelfmark%3A*Eb.444*%29&facet.limit=-1&facet.field=category&facet.field=objectType&fq=objectType%3A%22manuscript%22&version=4.5&facet=on&start=0&fl=id,returnId&rows=1&XSL.Style=browse&origrows=1 (accessed 27 July 2022).

19 Liebrenz, “Troubled history”, p. 225.

20 James, Master Scribes, p. 100.

21 Blair, “The Ilkhanid Qur'an”, pp. 174–195

22 Blair, “Sultan Öljeitü's Baghdad Qur'an” notes that this variation in quality is also found in the Baghdad Qur'an and Rashid al-Din's Majmūca Rashīdiyya; see Azzouna and Puyo, “The question of manuscript production workshops”.

23 Ettinghausen, “On the covers of the Morgan Manafi’ manuscript”, p. 462, note 7; Gray, “The monumental Qur'ans”, pp. 144–145.

24 It is difficult to establish if these are onlays or delamination effects of what was a leather punch.

25 See, for numerous examples, G. Bosch, J. Carswell and G. Petherbridge, Islamic Bindings and Bookmaking (Chicago, 1981); A. Ohta, “Covering the Book: Bindings of the Mamluk Period, 1250–1516 CE”, (unpublished PhD thesis, SOAS University of London, 2012), pp. 113–157, 176–185.

26 Azzouna, Aux origines du classicisme, pp. 494–495, Pl. 76 and 77.

27 Juz’ 2, TSK.EH. 250, 50 x 35cm, illuminated in Ramadan 702/April 1303, Karatay, F. E., Topkapı Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Arapça Yazmalar Kataloğu (Istanbul, 1962), no. 169Google Scholar; Juz’ 4, TSK.EH. 247, 52 x 35cm, undated, no. 198; Gray, “The monumental Qur'ans”, Pl. VI a and b; Tanındı, “Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi'nde Ortaçağ İslam Ciltleri”, p. 108; Juz’ 13, TSK.EH. 249, 50.1 x 35.5cm illuminated in Rabic I 705/November 1305, Karatay, Topkapı Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Arapça Yazmalar Kataloğu. no. 166. Ettinghausen, “On the covers of the Morgan Manafi’ manuscript”, fig. 350, illustrated Juz’ 10 but does not indicate the accession number. See James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 39 with a full listing of the fragments and other parts of this Qur'an.

28 James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 40; Blair, “Sultan Öljeitü's Baghdad Qur'an”.

29 Juz’ 7, TSK.EH. 243, 73 x 50cm, Karatay, Topkapı Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Arapça Yazmalar Kataloğu, no. 171 copied in 707/1307–1308 and illuminated in Dhu al-Hijjah 710/April 1311; Juz’ 20, TSK.EH. 245, 71 x 49.5cm, Karatay, Topkapı Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Arapça Yazmalar Kataloğu, no. 195; Gray, “The monumental Qur'ans”, Pl. 6c; Tanındı, “Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi'nde Ortaçağ İslam Ciltleri”, p. 107, fig. 16; Juz’ 21, TSK.EH. 234, 73 x 50cm, Karatay, Topkapı Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Arapça Yazmalar Kataloğu, no. 178. All fragments listed in James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 40.

30 James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 40.

31 Museum for Turkish and Islamic Art (TIEM) 540, Juz’ 2, dated 706/1306–1307; Sakisian, A., “La reliure dans la Perse occidentale, sous les Mongols, au XIVe siècle au début du XVe siècle”, Ars Islamica I (1934), pp. 180–191Google Scholar; TIEM 539, Juz’ 10 dated 706/1306–1307; TSK.EH. 232, Juz’ 15, dated 706/1306–1307; Tanındı, “Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi'nde Ortaçağ İslam Ciltleri”, p. 108, fig. 17. See James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 42 for the list of all fragments of this Qur'an.

32 See Blair, “The Ilkhanid Qur'an”, p. 177 for colour images of the Maragha Qur'an; Etnoğrafiya Müzesi, Ankara, 10115–10137, Juz’ 1–6, 8–9, 12, 14–23, 25–27 and 30; Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 29.58, Juz’ 13 and 29.57, Juz’ 24; Chester Beatty Library. Ms.1470, Juz’ 11, 33 x 24 cm, Pope and Ackerman (eds), Survey of Persian Art, Pls. 938a and b; van Regemorter, B., Some Oriental Bindings in the Chester Beatty Library (Dublin, 1958), Pl. 15Google Scholar; Arberry, A. J., The Koran Illuminated: A Handlist of Qur'ans in the Chester Beatty Library (Dublin, 1967), no. 137Google Scholar; James, D., Qur'ans and Bindings from the Chester Beatty (Dublin, 1980), no. 49Google Scholar; James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 61; TSK.EH. 1171, 70 x 50cm.

33 TSK.EH. 1171, F. E. Karatay, Topkapı Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Arapça Yazmalar Kataloğu (Istanbul, 1966), No. 6007; Tanındı, “Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi'nde Ortaçağ İslam Ciltleri”, p. 109, fig. 19.

34 TSK.A. 656, 37.8 x 22cm; Çagman, F. and Tanındı, Z., “Selections from Jalayirid books in the libraries of Istanbul”, Muqarnas XXVIII (2011), pp. 223–224Google Scholar, figs. 2, 3, 4.

35 DAK Rasid 60, Juz’ 2–29, 27 x 38 cm; Rasid 61, Juz’ 1–29, 30 x 38 cm; Rasid 70, Juz’ 2, 4, 7–13,15–23, 27–30, 28 x 37 cm; Rasid 71, Juz’ 1, 5–6, 28 x 37cm.

36 DAK Rasid 60, Juz’ 1–30 (Juz’ 14 is missing), 27 x 38 cm; Rasid 61, Juz’ 1–29, 30 x 38 cm.

37 The Amir Sirghatmish was one of the mamluks of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad; in 755/1354 he was one of the main supporters for the reinstatement of Sultan Hasan. He was appointed Amir Kabir under Sultan Hasan who became resentful of his power and he was subsequently sent to jail where he died in 759/1358. He was known to be very fond of Iranians and the madrasa was dedicated to students from Iran, although Behrens-Abouseif notes that word cajam may refer to students from Anatolia. See Abouseif, D. Behrens, Cairo of the Mamluks (London, 2007), pp. 197–198CrossRefGoogle Scholar for an account of his madrasa.

38 James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, pp. 153–155.

39 N. Abou-Khatwa, “Shaping the material culture of Cairo in the second half of the fourteenth century: a case in the patronage of Amir Sirghatmish al Nasiri”, in Living with Nature and Things, (eds) Bethany Walker and Abdelkader Al Ghouz (Bonn, 2020), pp. 333–337.

40 M. Lings and Y. Safadi, The Qur'an: Catalogue of an Exhibition of Qur'an Manuscripts at the British Library, 3 April–15 August 1976 (London, 1976), No. 74; James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, Cat. 72, pp. 311–349.

41 Abou-Khatwa, “Shaping the material culture of Cairo”, p. 327.

42 Other bindings in the series only have one knotted projection into the central field, for example, Juz’ 2.

43 Ohta, ‘Covering the Book: Bindings of the Mamluk Period’, pp. 444–449.

44 Gray, “The monumental Qur'ans”, p. 140.

45 See the cover of the second juz’ of this Qur'an for the Amir Aytmish al-Bajasi (d. 1400), The Walters Art Museum, W.56, https://art.thewalters.org/detail/25339 (accessed 12 July 2022).

46 Ettinghausen, “On the covers of the Morgan Manafi’ manuscript”, p. 469.

47 Wright, E., The Look of the Book (Washington, 2012), pp. 258–282Google Scholar.