Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Islamic Middle East, Room 42, The Jameel Gallery

Book Cover


Cover of a bookbinding. Brown leather over paper pasteboards; blind and gold tooling; doublures removed. This cover is almost certainly from a Urban. The large rectangular inner panel is filled with a complex geometrical interlace forming a number of differing pointed stars with the compartments decorated with dot punches. The main stars are repeated in the four corners of the broad outer margin which contains some of the ninety-nine attributes of Allāh. These are written in Sufi script. The outer border contains frames of cablework patterns, repeated crosses and plain fillets. The pasteboards are made up of many sheets, some of which have fragments of text in a neat naskh script. A number of these appear to deal with grammar and linguistics.


Object details
Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Transferred from Art Museum to National Art Library.
Physical description
Cover of a bookbinding. Brown leather over paper pasteboards; blind and gold tooling; doublures removed. This cover is almost certainly from a Urban. The large rectangular inner panel is filled with a complex geometrical interlace forming a number of differing pointed stars with the compartments decorated with dot punches. The main stars are repeated in the four corners of the broad outer margin which contains some of the ninety-nine attributes of Allāh. These are written in Sufi script. The outer border contains frames of cablework patterns, repeated crosses and plain fillets. The pasteboards are made up of many sheets, some of which have fragments of text in a neat naskh script. A number of these appear to deal with grammar and linguistics.
Dimensions
  • Height: 96cm
  • Length: 67cm
Gallery label
Jameel Gallery Book Cover with Geometric Design Egypt or Syria 1400–1500 The main design is similar to that on the grave panel, but it is made from a 12-pointed star and a figure composed of six pointed cusps, making it appear more complex. The text in the margin quotes 28 names of God mentioned in the Qur’an. Leather over pasteboard, tooled and gilded Museum no. 1070B-1869 (2006)
Subjects depicted
Collection
Library number
1070B-1869

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Record createdFebruary 2, 2016
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