Bifolium from the Pink Qur’an

Unknown

13th century

Tempera colors, gold, silver, and ink, Tempera Colors, Gold, Ink

J. Paul Getty Museum

A bifolium from a Qur'an manuscript features Arabic calligraphy in black ink with gold and blue accents on aged parchment. The text is arranged in columns with decorative elements. Probably produced for a noble patron from either Granada or Valencia, this thirteenth-century Spanish manuscript of the Qur’an, the sacred text of Muslims, is known as the Pink Qur’an, due to its distinctive tinted paper. The Qur’an is a written text created to document the word of God, as orally dictated by the Archangel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad, who died in 11 After Hegira (632CE by the Gregorian Calendar). The Qur’an is divided into 30 parts, each of which is called as juz’, with over 6236 verses. The number 30 is significant in the Islamic faith since, in the Muslim Calendar, there are 30 days in each month. The Pink Qur’