Back to Gallery Guide Many fourteenth-century Korans include richly illuminated double–page frontispieces, finispieces (end folios), as well as chapter headings with intricate floral and geometric motifs. Artists would often use gold or lapis lazuli, a semiprecious stone, for their designs to heighten the text's sumptuousness. The double folio here marks the ending of sura 9 of the Koran, known as "Repentance".

Double-page frontispiece from a Koran Egypt, mid-14th century Ink, color, and gold on paper 40.9 x 64 cm Purchase F1930.55

The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art Exhibition List | Online Exhibitions All presented material is copyright © Smithsonian Institution, 2008 except where otherwise noted.