I previously posted a Kufic folio at auction by Christie’s. In researching Kufic script as part of an
Islamic Art and Architecture course I came across the ‘Blue Qur’an’
(mid-9th-10th Century) or the Kairouan Koran as it is sometimes referred
to. Believed to have originated in
Qairawan (Kairouan), Tunisia but disputed as possibly being from Cordoba, Spain
instead and produced under the Umayyad rule.
The Blue Qur’an was produced on indigo dyed vellum, possibly inspired from the
tradition of purple parchment vellum used for Byzantine imperial
manuscripts. The script is of painted gold and silver from grinding the metal and suspending in solution.
Kufic script, the oldest style of Islamic calligraphy, with strong and
weighty elongated strokes and unlike later Qur’an folios which are illuminated and far more complex in artistic nature, with a geometrical balance in the symmetrical borders, layout and embellishment, the Kufic
folios rely instead on balance across the size of the page from the exaggeration of the
strokes so that the verses are evenly distributed and form their own frameless boundary.
Below an image of the blue Qu'ran from the met, more images available on the page
+Met+museum.jpg)
Above a Kufic folio late 9th–early 10th century probably Syria, also from the Met
