Opening folio from a Qur'an

Opening folio from a Qur'an, illuminated by Muhammad ibn Aybak in Baghdad.
This full-page illumination marks the beginning of a superb Qur'an volume produced in Baghdad. It is from a thirty-volume set, now dispersed in international collections or lost. Four of the known volumes contain the signature of the renowned illuminator Muhammad ibn Aybak ibn `Abdullah, who also recorded the date and that he was working "in the City of Peace, Baghdad". From these inscriptions, Ibn Aybak's work schedule becomes clear: he completed volume two in April 1303, ten in February 1305, thirteen in October 1305, and volume twenty-six in 1306, producing an illuminated volume approximately every three months. Although his work does not figure in this particular folio, this Qur'an's calligrapher was also an important figure: Ibn al-Suhrawardi, trained by the great master Yaqut al-Musta`simi.
Folio from a Qur'an, colours and gold on paper, illuminated panel with geometric design of octagon repeats, and hasp ornament on right margin, right half of a double-page composition, illumination by Muhammad ibn Aybak, opening folio from volume 10 of a 30-volume Qur'an (volume 10 codex is in Tehran Iran Bastan Museum, 3548), Baghdad, Iraq, 1305.