Folio of the Pink Qur'an

This folio comes from an Andalusian Qur’an manuscript known as the ‘Pink Qur’an’, named after the colour of its paper. Each page contains five lines of text copied in dark brown ink with diacritical marks and verse markers in gold paint and diverse opaque watercolours. This manuscript is an exquisite example of how the maghrebi script had evolved. Maghrebi script has distinct features such as large round curved letters and the specific use of some diacritical marks to distinguish consonants; it is usually written in dark brown or black ink with gold illuminations and a colourful vocalisation system. The script was first developed in Al-Andalus and the Maghreb region, hence its name.
This rare example of dyed pink paper was probably produced in the city of Jativa, in today south-eastern Spain, where the site of the earliest Spanish paper mill is located. The use of paper is an innovation for Andalusian manuscripts as parchment was still the most common writing support used for Qur’ans during that time in the Iberian Peninsula.