Qur’an

Title
Qur’an
Year/Period
Late 19th or early 20th centuries
Region
Probably Cirebon, north coast Java, Indonesia
Object Type
Dimension
Object size: L: 22.5cm,
x W: 34.4cm,
x T: 7.2cm
Accession No.
2001-00353

This Qur’an is incomplete—with pages missing from Al-Fatihah and some from Surat al-Baqarah. The illumination is done in various colours and in gold. The designs feature motifs with heavy Chinese influence, typical of objects made from north coast of Java, especially from Cirebon.Although it is not quite clear when Islam first arrived in Southeast Asia, it first made significant impact on some Southeast Asian societies during the 14th- 15th centuries. Many of the first Southeast Asian communities which adopted Islam were coastal trading areas, such as Cirebon. For Muslims, the Qur'an is the visual embodiment of the Word of God and is hence considered sacred. The pious desire to beautify the Word of God was a central factor in the development of calligraphy in the Islamic world.