Speaking The Word Of God: Illuminated Korans

The Walters Art Museum will present a stunning array of Korans from the ninth to the 19th century, highlighting the richness and variety of Islamic culture in Speaking the Word of God: Illuminated Korans from the Walters Art Museum. On view Feb. 3-April 29, 2007, the exhibition will display 22 Korans-Islam's central religious book. Muslims believe the Koran is the exact record of the words God spoke to the prophet Muhammad (ca. 570-632).

For this reason, the Koran can only be written in Arabic. The standardization of written Arabic started in earnest with the codification of the Koran, which until the end of the seventh and the beginning of the eighth century was transmitted mostly by recitation.

"The exhibition offers visitors a unique opportunity to view Korans spanning the entire Islamic world from North Africa to India," said Martina Bagnoli, associate curator of manuscripts and rare books. "These beautiful manuscripts clearly illustrate why Muslims consider calligraphy the highest art form."

Since most Muslims can recite portions of the Koran from memory, the beauty and harmony of the text are prioritized over legibility. By its nature, Arabic script lends itself to artistic manipulation. The presence of dots and strokes to distinguish between similar letter forms, as well as the many letters that cannot be connected to others, allow calligraphers to play with spacing to create harmonious proportions between letters within a word and between words. The beauty and flow of the script is often enhanced by splendid frontispieces with intricate interlaces sparkling with gold and lapis lazuli. An example of how script and ornamentation masterfully merge is seen through the prologue of a 15th-century, northern Indian Koran. This script is laid out in gold over a black background embroidered with multicolored flowers.

Also featured will be a fragment of a 15th-century Koran made by the famous scribe, Umar 'Aqta,' on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. According to legend, 'Aqta' tried to impress the ruler Tamerlane, who reigned from 1370 to 1405 in an empire spanning from present-day Turkey to India, by sending him a Koran so small that it fit in a signet ring. When Tamerlane remained unimpressed, 'Aqta' astonished him by writing a Koran so large it had to be transported on a wheel barrow. Originally the pages of this book were almost 5-feet-4-inches tall and 4-feet wide, and they were displayed on a colossal stone stand in the great mosque of Bibi Khanum in Samarkand (Uzbekistan).

The Walters' internationally-renowned collection of manuscripts and rare books chronicles the art of the book from antiquity to modern times with more than 900 illuminated manuscripts, ranging from 300 B.C. to the 19th century, 1,250 of the earliest printed books (ca. 1455-1500) and an important collection of post-1500 deluxe editions. Though mostly known for its outstanding holdings of the medieval and Renaissance Books of Hours, the Walters also owns a rich collection of Islamic material. Henry Walters was an avid collector of Islamic books, and the books he left to the museum at his death in 1931 comprise one of the largest collections of early bound Korans in the country. The Koran collection documents the flourishing Eastern art of the pen and includes important examples of epic tales made for Mughal emperors. -- www.thewalters.org