A SUBSTANTIAL GROUP OF LARGE KUFIC QUR’AN LEAVES, LATE UMAYYAD OR EARLY ABBASID, PROBABLY DAMASCUS OR JERUSALEM, MID-8TH CENTURY

A SUBSTANTIAL GROUP OF LARGE KUFIC QUR’AN LEAVES
LATE UMAYYAD OR EARLY ABBASID, PROBABLY DAMASCUS OR JERUSALEM, MID-8TH CENTURY
Manuscript on vellum, 76ff. each with 16ll., extremely elegant black kufic, vowels in red and green dots, verse endings marked with groups of three lines, endings of larger section marked with illuminated panels of various forms, sura headings indicated by panels illuminated in brown and green, the title in red kufic, a marginal palmette at each side, opening verses within a similar multiple border, the opening page with large elaborate illuminated carpet page comprising two rows each of three interlaced roundels containing similar motifs (some damage, scuffing and minor restoration)
Folio 12½ x 15in. (32 x 38cm.)

Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE DR MOHAMED SAID FARSI
From early on Dr. Mohammed Said Farsi's life was exceptional. Born in the South West quarter of Mecca Al-Mukarama on 7 January 1935, Farsi left home in 1956 to study in Egypt, one of only 35 students from all over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who were sent abroad for further education that year. Having obtained his BA in Architecture and Town Planning from the University of Alexandria, Farsi returned to Saudi Arabia to work in the Bureau of Town Planning in the Western District for ten years. He became the first Mayor of Jeddah, and during that tenure, in 1982, he received an MA from the University of Alexandria for his thesis on the architecture and town planning of Mecca. On his resignation from public office in 1986, Dr. Farsi focused his energies on research. He received a PhD. in Architecture and Town Planning from the University of Alexandria and wrote a series of essays on art history and architecture that were collected in 1989 and published as The Story of Art in Jeddah. Dr. Farsi passed away peacefully in March 2019, and is survived by his family as well as by a legacy of patronage and philanthropy that will surely inspire generations to come.
Dr. Farsi was one of the Middle East's great modern patrons of the visual arts. For a long time he was a driving force in the Egyptian art scene, offering support and guidance to many young emerging artists. Dr. Farsi was the only collector of Modern Egyptian Art to have systematically documented the works in his collection, commissioning a then all-inclusive book in 1997, published in 1998, by the critic and scholar Dr. Sobhy Sharouny entitled A Museum in a Book: The Farsi Art Collection "The Egyptian Works" Owned by Dr. Mohammed Said Farsi.
At the same time as promoting modern Egyptian artists, he also established close relationships with some of the great names of international art, including Cesar, Moore and Vasarely, each of whom provided several works for his extensive programme of public works in Jeddah. When he took the reins as Mayor in 1972, Jeddah had grown from a small medieval town to a city of 300,000. Under his guidance it was to grow fivefold in the next decade into a major city of over 1.5 million. Dr. Farsi's approach was unique, not just to the region but worldwide. Farsi coupled one of the world's largest urban development programmes with beautification through installation of a large number of site-specific monumental sculptures. Around 500 sculptures were commissioned by Arab and international sculptors, which also included works by Miro, Calder, Lipchitz, Arp, Vasarely, Cesar, Hellman, La Fuente, Salah Abdulkarim, Aref El-Rayess and Moore. A book entitled Jeddah: City of Art, published in 1991 by his son Hani, celebrates these achievements.
Over the years Dr. Farsi's profound affection for Egypt and most especially Alexandria, where he completed his studies, found expression in the formation of his astonishing collection. He himself commented that "Living intimately within Alexandria's enchanted atmosphere of the 1950s had the greatest effect in forming my artistic consciousness". This drove the formation of the modern Egyptian art collection, but at the same time he began to collect classical Islamic Art, again at first with a strong bias towards Egyptian items, but rapidly allowing his interests to spread over a much broader spectrum, including the spectacular Qur’ans that are in this sale. We are delighted to be able to offer this selection of some of the best masterpieces from the collection.