Name of Object:

Illumination of a Qur’an

Location:

Raqqada, Kairouan, Tunisia

Holding Museum:

Museum of Islamic Art

About Museum of Islamic Art, Raqqada.

Original Owner:

Imran ibn Ahmad ibn Imran al-Balawi

Date of Object:

Hegira 413 / AD 1022

Museum Inventory Number:

Rutbi 14

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Parchment.

Dimensions:

Length 21.5 cm, width 15 cm; 2 folios, 6 lines

Period / Dynasty:

Fatimid-Zirid

Provenance:

Very likely from Kairouan, a great centre for book production at that time.

Description:

Taken from a Qur'an copied on parchment, the right-hand page is written in thick, black kufic characters. The vowels are marked with red dots, in the style of Abi al-Aswad. Other diacritical dots are used as orthographic signs. The division between the verses is indicated by a large gold and brown rosette consisting of six petals surrounding a circle, linked by six brown quarter-circles.
The left-hand page has an illumination framed by a rectangular ribbon enclosing snake-like ornamental foliage. Several interlinked circles on the gold and brown outer edges form three rows of interwoven geometric decoration whose main motif is a four-lobed fleuron.
The surrounding area is coloured green. A crown motif projecting towards the left-hand margin is made up of a circle surrounded with green and gold dots and containing stylised gilded leaves.
The white background is covered with green and black dots.

Taken from a Qur'an copied on vellum, the right-hand page is written in black kufic script. The division of verses is marked by a large gold and brown rosette. The left-hand page contains an illumination framed by a rectangular band containing serpentine foliage.

How date and origin were established:

This Qur'an was given as a legacy to the Great Mosque of Kairouan by Umran ibn Ahmad ibn Umran al-Balawi in 413 / 1022. This act was authenticated by the judge of Kairouan Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Hashim.

How Object was obtained:

The National Library obtained this Qur'an in 1967 after the abolition of the habus foundation in Tunisia. In 1983 it went back to the Centre of Islamic Art and Civilisation at Raqqada. It has been displayed in the Museum of Islamic Art at Raqqada since 1986.

How provenance was established:

This Qur'an belonged to the old library of the Great Mosque. Given that Kairouan was at that time a great centre of book production, it is highly likely that this example was copied and bound at Kairouan on locally tanned parchment.

Selected bibliography:

De Carthage a Kairouan (exhibition catalogue), Paris, 1982, p.258.
Tunez, Tierra de Culturas (exhibition catalogue), Valencia, 2004, p.220.
Ifriqiya: Thirteen Centuries of Art and Architecture in Tunisia, pp.175–6.

Citation of this web page:

Mourad Rammah "Illumination of a Qur’an" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;tn;Mus01;5;en

Prepared by: Mourad RammahMourad Rammah

Né en 1953 à Kairouan, docteur en archéologie islamique, Mourad Rammah est le conservateur de la médina de Kairouan. Lauréat du prix Agha Khan d'architecture, il publie divers articles sur l'histoire de l'archéologie médiévale islamique en Tunisie et participe à différentes expositions sur l'architecture islamique. De 1982 à 1994, il est en charge du département de muséographie du Centre des arts et des civilisations islamiques. Mourad Rammah est également directeur du Centre des manuscrits de Kairouan.
Copyedited by: Margot Cortez
Translation by: David Ash
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: TN 08