File:Qu'ran, Qajar Iran, August-September 1833.jpg

Qajar Iran, Rabi' I AH 1249/August-September 1833 AD

Manuscript on ivory paper, 315ff. with 12ll. of strong black naskh within gold clouds, red Persian interlinear translation highlighted with gold floral decoration, gold roundels between verses, sura headings in gold on blue panels, gold and blue illuminated marginal roundels marking juz divisions, sura marked in upper corner in blue on gold panels, tafsir written in black shikasteh within gold clouds in margins, four finely illuminated bifolios at beginning of Qur'an and another similar bifolio at mid-point of Qur'an, final two folios with du'a and colophon signed by the scribe Naghmeh and dated Rabi' I 1249, previous folio with Persian translation copied by Mahram the poet and dated Dhu'l hijja 1250, original lacquer binding with gul-o bulbul design on gold glitter ground, doublures with further gul-o bulbul motifs flanked by seated figures of 'Ali, Hasan, Husayn and the Prophet Muhammad with attendant putti, one board loose Folio 15 x 9in. (38.2 x 23.4cm.)

A note on the opening flyleaf states that this Qur'an was given by Munshir al-Mulk to 'Abd al-Husayn Mirza for his wedding. 'Abd al-Husayn Mirza was married to a daughter of Muzaffar al-Din Shah. He was appointed in charge of the army in Azarbaijan and received the title of Salar Lashgar in 1309/1891-2. In that same year after the death of his brother he was given the title of Farmanfarma. He held other positions as the Governor of Kurdistan, Kirman, Fars, Tehran and ministerial posts in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Home Affairs. The scribe of the main text in naskh is 'Abd al-Vahhab whose penname was Naghmeh the poet who lived in Shiraz. This is his earliest recorded work. The shikasteh scribe is 'Ali Muhammad Shirazi whose pen name was Mahram. He left Shiraz for the Holy Shrines in Iraq in 1265/1848-9.

Bamdad, M. Dictionary of National Biography of Iran, Tehran, 1966, vol. II, pp.247-57 and vol.III pp.459-60.