Abstract

This article focuses on the writing styles employed by the Andalusi calligraphers specialised in the production of Quranic manuscripts, between the 5th/11th and the 6th/12th centuries. During this crucial period, the shape, aspect, and concept of the muṣḥaf underwent a profound transformation in the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the notion of “Quranic script” became more fluid, elusive even, mainly owing to the introduction of Maġribī round scripts for transcribing the Sacred Book. This article aims to demonstrate that all the calligraphic traits found in Maġribī “Quranic” styles were ultimately derived from the scripts employed in coeval, non-Quranic manuscripts. Also presented here is a discussion of the activity of some Andalusi copyists of the period, their aesthetic models, their social status, and of the cultural context emerging from the material aspects and colophons of the manuscripts they produced.