A Comparative Study of the Leather Coverings of the Holy Quran between Timurid and Mamluk Dynasties

Leather coverings of holy Quran are valuable artistic work and religious heritages. It is clear that Timurid era was one of the most important period of Iranian arts that writing styles had flourished and reached to its magnificence. Timurian was coincident with Mamluk dynasty in Egypt; that its leather coverings of Qurans were precious and valuable. The aims of this research are studying the decorations and motifs of leather coverings of holy Qurans at the above mentioned periods. This research was based on historical, descriptive and comparative methods. The available Quran’s coverings from two dynasties were described and compared to each other. Information was gathered from library resources, internet based information and pictures. The results showed that in Timurian time, decorative elements such as botanical designs, medallions, and animal pictures were used on covering. Some of these elements are common with Mamluk covering decorations as well. Also applications of golden ribbons for embossing designs were common. To prevent books from damages during usage, Timurian craftsmen invented “sartabl” that is a triangle shape part attached to the front part of cover to prevent the edges of the papers. Decorative designs of coverings are included natural senses, animals, flowers and trees. In general Mamluk coverings were simple but the craftsmen used a new method of covering decoration, called “Malileh dozi” that was adopted by Iranian artists as well. Usually the artists used geometrical designs, variety of stars, trees, animals and flowers and medallions.