Jonathan Bloom’s attribution of the manuscript to Qairawan derives from a particular system of abjad numbering in the manuscript that is specific to the Islamic West. Some have posited a date on the basis of stylistic affinities between the Blue Qur’an illuminated folios in Qairawan and Raqqada and the palmette trees and vegetal designs on the minbar and mihrab of the Great Mosque of Qairawan. Several scholars have suggested dates for the Blue Qur’an, ranging from the ninth to the mid-tenth century, and attributed it to either Qairawan in present-day Tunisia or Cordoba in Umayyad Spain. Firm evidence is lacking regarding the origin, exact date, and patron of this manuscript, although all of the thirty-seven extant pages, now scattered in museum and private collections throughout the world, probably come from one manuscript preserved at the Institut National d’Archeologie et d’Art in Tunis. The text on the two sides here is from Sura 30:24–32 (al-Rum, "The Byzantine Empire"). The sparse ornamentation allows for an uninterrupted progression and bold movement of the letters from right to left. The only decoration found on many of these pages consists of the circular silver marks, now almost entirely oxidized and faded, that separate each verse. On the two sides of this leaf, as with all the pages from the Blue Qur’an, the voweling and diacritical marks are omitted, and ornamentation is kept to a minimum. Like most Qur’ans from the eighth through the tenth century, it is distinguished by a horizontal format, use of parchment, and kufic script. Folio from the Blue Qur'an From the Blue Qur’an, one of the most lavish Qur’an manuscripts ever produced, this double-sided leaf contains fifteen lines of kufic script in gold ink on indigo-dyed parchment.
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