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Chance to Grab Mustasimi’s Quran Manuscript

ABU DHABI - A few years before his death, Abbasid calligrapher Yakout Al Mustasimi wrote his last copy of Holy Quran. It was Islamic year 690 (1291 AD). Soon after, the holy manuscript travelled from Baghdad to Egypt, where it was placed and remained in a box.

In 1798, when Napoleon invaded Egypt, his team of scientists took back to France several boxes of valuable objects, including this particular Quran, which eventually ended up in the home of one scientist, who wished to study some of these objects in detail. He never had the chance to do so, though, because these were also the years of the French Revolution. It was only a couple of centuries later that a descendant of the French scientist discovered the dusty, old box in his newly inherited house and, without knowing the value of its content, decided to give it to a charity, which put it up for sale. Thus, a collector bought some of the manuscripts, including Mustasimi’s Quran and then auctioned them, in 2005, through the famed auction house Marc-Arthur Kohn.

Now the auctioneer, the buyer and the manuscript will come together again tomorrow in Abu Dhabi. This is because the buyer was Marc Laurenti, a French art collector and dealer, and also owner of Paris Abu Dhabi Art Gallery.

During his third art exhibition here, the famed Holy Quran will be among the most extraordinary pieces on display and, of course, will be for sale.

Its value was estimated between 2-3 million euros, but Laurenti’s asking price is Dh965,000. “I honestly believe it’s time for this book to complete its unbelievable journey, and finally return to its homeland,” said Laurenti. Measuring 255 mm x 180 mm, the manuscript is written in “rayani” script, in black ink, with tips (side page decorations) done in “thuluth” calligraphy, using gold ink. It is the oldest Quran coming from Iraq and the most complete one from the Abbasid period. Adding to its value is the fact that it is one of only 12 manuscripts existing in the world done by Yakout Al Mustasimi, one of antiquity’s most praised calligraphers.

The other 11 manuscripts belong to the private library of Sultan Qaboos bin Said in Muscat, the Iran Bastan Museum in Tehran, the Imam Reza Shrine library in Mashhad (Iran), Topkapi Saray library in Istanbul (two manuscripts), the National Library in Paris, the Ahuan Islamic Art in London, the Cairo Islamic Art Museum (three manuscripts) and to a private Lebanese collector
 in Beirut. Two other valuable Qurans will also be displayed alongside this one. And this is not all.

Laurenti will also exhibit nine paintings by the extraordinary Massoud Arabshahi. “All I can say about Arabshahi is that he is the most famous modern and contemporary artists of Iran,” said Laurenti.

The 75-year-old painter, now living in Bel Air (Los Angeles), is unique for using aluminium lines engraved in his artworks. Despite their modern, even abstract “look”, Arabshahi’s paintings are always inspired by Achaemenid, Assyrian and Babylonian myths, legends and beliefs. All in all, the entire exhibition has an estimated value of 5 million euros, the highest yet for an independent gallery in Abu Dhabi.

It is organised under the patronage of French Embassy and French Cooperation Department and Cultural Action in Abu Dhabi and with the financial support of Peugeot and Omeir bin Youssef and Sons. The Sunday night vernissage will coincide with the visit in Abu Dhabi of the French Auction Houses Organisation, which is, in fact, on an official tour of the UAE and Qatar.

Among the 18-representative delegation is also Marc-Arthur Kohn, the auctioneer who “facilitated” the arrival of Mustasimi’s holy manuscript in 
Abu Dhabi.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com