King's Pote 70 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)
Pote Collection
Contents
Colophon details: Place: Damascus Date: Friday, 1st of Rajab, 980 / 7 Nov 1572 Scribe: Maḥmūd ibn Ḥabīb Allāh al-Nakhjavānī محمود بن حبيب الله النخجوانى .
Note concerning manuscript: A beautiful codex containing two celebrated commentaries on the Qurʾān (one in the margins).
References
Colophon details: Place: Damascus Date: Friday, 1st of Rajab, 980 / 7 Nov 1572 Scribe: Maḥmūd ibn Ḥabīb Allāh al-Nakhjavānī محمود بن حبيب الله النخجوانى .
Colophon further notes: Marginal text colophon (in the same beautiful hand although a smaller script): the same scribe uses Persianate words in praise of God (Yazdān, etc) – gives his name again – and says this was completed in the same day, month and year as he had mentioned (in the main text).
Note concerning manuscript: This commentary appears in the margins.
References
Physical Description
Condition
Layout
27 (in main text) lines per page.
Ruled in gold and lapis. Rubrics in black-outlined gold and red; overlining with red ink for Qur'anic quotations.
Hand(s)
Script: naskh. Quality: Beautiful, minute naskh with some thulth. Remarkably consistent use of different letter sizes for the Qur’anic text (largest; fully vocalized thulth with red overline), the main commentary ( naskh ) and the marginal commentary (smallest; naskh ). Scribe: Maḥmūd ibn Ḥabīb Allāh al-Nakhjavānī محمود بن حبيب الله النخجوانى.
Decoration
F.1r: a poor quality Indian decoration (red rectangles top and bottom with gold cartouches; a central gold circle on a pale blue ground). Ff.1v-2r: a very intricately illuminated double page frontispiece; the hand is minute naskh with interlinear cross-hatching. Surah names appear in illuminated headings (white riqāʿ on a gold cartouche on a blue background with florals motifs in other colours). The main sequence of illuminations are decorated in an identical fashion. The ruled marginal commentary has its own illumination on f.2v (Tafsīr al-Kashshāf). Other marginal headings are in white riqāʿ on gold without a background. The final folio has 2 colophons with illuminated quadrilateral panels on both sides.
An inspection note dated last 20th Dhū al-Ḥijjah (12th Khordad) of year 11 [of some ruler's reign] reports on worm damage. Another note is accompanied by an erased seal. End flyleaf: a large circular seal. F.1r: two large circular seals.
Binding
Wine red leather with gold decorations. Lower board preserves more of the original binding (only repaired once). Spine is European style. Doublures: plain paper. Decorations: Upper board: a pressure moulded, decorated turanj and pendants: collage with greenish blue ground. Lower board: two different gold colours on brown leather; Islimi frame; Islimi and floral patterns in a central ground; two pendants, a turanj and 4 corner pieces. The spine is embossed: “Koran by Beidawi and Zamakhchari”. Condition: The binding has been (twice) repaired, preserving much of the original. Dimensions: 27.3 × 16 × 5.7 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 183.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The "Pote Collection" arrived in England from India in 1790 and was divided between the Colleges of Eton and King's, Cambridge, with the first half alphabetically going to King's. Both halves of the collection are now housed in Cambridge University Library on permanent loan. Most if not all of the manuscripts had previously been owned by Colonel Antoine-Louis Henri Polier (1741–1795).
Gift of Edward Ephraim Pote (d.1832) in 1788.
Record Sources
Availability
All manuscripts of the Pote Collection are on permanent loan at Cambridge University Library. Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures consult Cambridge University Library. Contact near_eastern@lib.cam.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript
Funding of Cataloguing
King's College Cambridge
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