Decoration of the Holy Qur'an
Regional, Religion, 11/29/2000

The Moslem artist created his own matchless beauty values. At the early stage of Islam the Qur'an had been written down in small parts on different materials such as stones, parchments and palm fronds. Later, it was written on papyrus, then on paper when the Arabs got the secret of its industry from China.

The Moslem scribe used paper to record the Qur'an, and decorated the margins and sidelines, while leather was used as a preserving cover, being decorated also. As for the other scripts, the beginning and ending pages were usually depicted with plant decorations placed among geometric formations constituting stars, circles, triangle netsÖetc. The colors mostly used were the geen, the brown, the blue and the black. Binding with leather made use as well of gold threads in the decoration.

The book usually started with one or two blank pages having only some ornaments, the name of the author and acknowledgement statements. Then, the text was written surrounded by decorated spaces. The name of the artist was rarely mentioned. The Holy Book of the Qur'an had been particularly given much care and its decorations reflected one of the most magnificent Islamic arts. Millions of hand-written and ornamented scriptures demonstrate that fine art which the Caliphs, Emirs and nobles were keen to possess.

Islamic schools played an active part in developing the art of decorating books and scriptures . Such schools were established by kings and rich people. The most famous of these institutes had been "The House Of Wisdom" set up by Caliph Al-Mamoun.

The ways of ornamenting books in the Islamic world varied according to different cultures and civilizations. Those made in Turkey, for instance, differed from the works of art made in India or Persia.

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