Single-volume Qur'an

This book represents the type of Qur'an manuscript produced for sophisticated metropolitan clients by Istanbul scribes of the later 17th and 18th century. The fine illumination, the work of an artist called Ibrahim Nazif, is matched by the excellent hand. Indeed, the scribe, who signed himself as Hafız Mahmud Celâleddin, was recognized as one of the leading calligraphers of his age. The high regard in which this manuscript was held in the later 19th century is shown by the ownership inscription on folio 277b. This is in the name of Princess Nazima, a daughter of Sultan Abdülaziz (r 1861–1876).