In recognition of one of the world’s extraordinary collections of Qur’ans, the Freer|Sackler is hosting a landmark exhibition, the first of its kind in the United States. Some fifty of the most sumptuous manuscripts from Herat to Istanbul will be featured in The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, opening this fall. Celebrated for their superb calligraphy and lavish illumination, these manuscripts—which range in date from the early eighth to the seventeenth century—are critical to the history of the arts of the book. They were once the prized possessions of Ottoman sultans and the ruling elite, who donated their Qur’ans to various institutions to express their personal piety and secure political power. Each manuscript tells a unique story, which will be explored in this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition.

Detail, Single-volume Qur’an; Attributed to Abdallah al-Sayrafi; Iran, probably Tabriz, Il-Khanid period, ca. 1330; Ink, color, and gold on paper; Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 487
Explore this exhibition

Detail, Single-volume Qur’an; Copied by Yaqut al-Musta‘simi Iraq, Baghdad, Il-Khanid period, 1286–87; Ink, color, and gold on paper; Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 507.
The Art of the Qur’an: Past Events

Detail, Frontispiece of a single-volume Qur’an; Historic Iran, present-day Afghanistan, Herat, Safavid period, January 1576 (AH Shawwal 983); Ink, color, and gold on paper; Transferred from the Çarşamba Mehmed Ağa Mosque to the Museum on January 1, 1914; Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, TIEM 211
The Art of the Qur’an: Educator Resources

Detail, Single-volume Qur’an; Probably Turkey, Edirne, 1457–58 (AH 862); Ink, color, and gold on paper; Transferred from the library of the Hagia Sophia to the Museum in 1914; Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, TIEM 30
The Art of the Qur’an: Freer and Sackler Kids

Detail, Single-volume Qur’an; Attributed to Abdallah al-Sayrafi; Iran, probably Tabriz, Il-Khanid period, ca. 1330; Ink, color, and gold on paper; Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 487
The Art of the Qur’an: Reviews & Press

Detail, Single-volume Qur’an; Egypt, Cairo, Mamluk period, ca. 1481–96; Ink, color, and gold on paper; Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 508
The Art of the Qur’an: Closer Looks, Four Conversations

Detail, The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts