Digital Manuscripts for Arabic Language Acquisition and Art Historical Analyses

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Department

International Studies and Languages

Major

International Studies (MENA) & French

Abstract

In a joint presentation with Chanel Diaz, I will discuss and read a passage from a seventeenth-century Chinese Qur’an in the collections of the British Library (BL). Pages of this manuscript are viewable via the online website of the BL, and this particular page has also been featured in Colin F. Baker’s book Qur’an Manuscripts: Calligraphy, Illumination, and Design (2007). The page graphically embodies the fusion of Islam and Chinese culture so evident in Qur’anic and other far-eastern Islamic manuscripts of the period. China at this time was ruled by the Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and saw a period characterized by military conquest, economic growth, and increased social mobility. These final pages include a Chinese lantern surrounding three lines of Arabic text, written in a variant of the muhaqqaq script in a style similar to Chinese calligraphy, with tassels adorning the outer edge of the pages. This is one of the pages that I chose and that Chanel and I examined with Dr. David Simonowitz as part of our project to evaluate the accessibility of on-line digital resources and their viability as tools for learning Arabic and studying Islamic Art. We are publishing some of our findings with Dr. Simonowitz in a forthcoming, co-authored article on pre-modern Qur’anic calligraphy.

In my joint presentation with Alyssa Boyer, I will discuss a single Qur’anic folio from North Africa that dates back to sometime between 1250 and 1350 AD. It is composed of ink, gold, and opaque watercolor on vellum. Currently in the private Khalili Collections, this page is written in a beautiful Maghribi script, a hand that predominated in north-west Africa and al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) from the eleventh century onward, and variants of the script are still popular in North and West Africa to this day. Each manuscript page consists of nine lines, finely transcribed in gold with black outlines, while the vocalization and other reading markings are rendered in red, blue, and orange. It also contains elaborate and marginal Kufic incidentals indicating every fifth and tenth verse. That this folio is from a dispersed manuscript suggests it may have been recognized as a particularly fine North African Qur’an of the 13th and 14th centuries. Thus, it was potentially a royal commission of Marinid Morocco (1217-1465) or even of the Nasrid Sultanate of Granada (1232-1492). This is one of the pages that I identified and that Alyssa and I examined with Dr. David Simonowitz as part of our project to evaluate the accessibility of on-line digital resources and their suitability as tools for learning Arabic and studying Islamic Art. We are publishing some of our findings with Dr. Simonowitz in a forthcoming, co-authored article on pre-modern Qur’anic calligraphy.

Faculty Mentor

David Simonowitz

Funding Source or Research Program

Academic Year Undergraduate Research Initiative

Presentation Session

Session D

Location

BPC 191

Start Date

23-3-2018 4:15 PM

End Date

23-3-2018 4:30 PM

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Mar 23rd, 4:15 PM Mar 23rd, 4:30 PM

Digital Manuscripts for Arabic Language Acquisition and Art Historical Analyses

BPC 191

In a joint presentation with Chanel Diaz, I will discuss and read a passage from a seventeenth-century Chinese Qur’an in the collections of the British Library (BL). Pages of this manuscript are viewable via the online website of the BL, and this particular page has also been featured in Colin F. Baker’s book Qur’an Manuscripts: Calligraphy, Illumination, and Design (2007). The page graphically embodies the fusion of Islam and Chinese culture so evident in Qur’anic and other far-eastern Islamic manuscripts of the period. China at this time was ruled by the Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and saw a period characterized by military conquest, economic growth, and increased social mobility. These final pages include a Chinese lantern surrounding three lines of Arabic text, written in a variant of the muhaqqaq script in a style similar to Chinese calligraphy, with tassels adorning the outer edge of the pages. This is one of the pages that I chose and that Chanel and I examined with Dr. David Simonowitz as part of our project to evaluate the accessibility of on-line digital resources and their viability as tools for learning Arabic and studying Islamic Art. We are publishing some of our findings with Dr. Simonowitz in a forthcoming, co-authored article on pre-modern Qur’anic calligraphy.

In my joint presentation with Alyssa Boyer, I will discuss a single Qur’anic folio from North Africa that dates back to sometime between 1250 and 1350 AD. It is composed of ink, gold, and opaque watercolor on vellum. Currently in the private Khalili Collections, this page is written in a beautiful Maghribi script, a hand that predominated in north-west Africa and al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) from the eleventh century onward, and variants of the script are still popular in North and West Africa to this day. Each manuscript page consists of nine lines, finely transcribed in gold with black outlines, while the vocalization and other reading markings are rendered in red, blue, and orange. It also contains elaborate and marginal Kufic incidentals indicating every fifth and tenth verse. That this folio is from a dispersed manuscript suggests it may have been recognized as a particularly fine North African Qur’an of the 13th and 14th centuries. Thus, it was potentially a royal commission of Marinid Morocco (1217-1465) or even of the Nasrid Sultanate of Granada (1232-1492). This is one of the pages that I identified and that Alyssa and I examined with Dr. David Simonowitz as part of our project to evaluate the accessibility of on-line digital resources and their suitability as tools for learning Arabic and studying Islamic Art. We are publishing some of our findings with Dr. Simonowitz in a forthcoming, co-authored article on pre-modern Qur’anic calligraphy.