Miniature Books - The Format and Function of Tiny Religious Texts - Kristina Myrvold

Miniature Books - The Format and Function of Tiny Religious Texts - Kristina Myrvold

Diminutive Divination and the Implications of Scale: A Miniature Quranic Falnama of the Safavid Period

Miniature Books - The Format and Function of Tiny Religious Texts - Kristina Myrvold

Heather Coffey [+-]
OCAD University
Heather Coffey is an Assistant Professor of Art History at OCAD University. In addition to her penchant for small things, her research examines the art and architecture of the Mediterranean basin as an arena of Christian and Islamic cross- and intercultural fertilization from c. 1200-1600 CE.

Description

This chapter investigates Adomeit Miniature Islamic Manuscript C12, a Safavid Qur’an preserved in the Lilly Library at Indiana University. Measuring 6.3 by 5.7 centimeters, the manuscript imbricates the amuletic function inherent to the Qur’an with a prognostic capacity through inclusion of a falnama (Book of Divination) attributed to the sixth Shi’i Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (d. 765). This chapter contextualizes the small-scale manuscript within Safavid bibliomantic practices, which reached their apogee during the reign of Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524-76). In so doing, it contrasts a miniaturized specimen against alternate manuscript formats of Safavid falnamas, thereby assessing the impact of drastically reduced scale on the user’s divinatory experience.

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Citation

Coffey, Heather. Diminutive Divination and the Implications of Scale: A Miniature Quranic Falnama of the Safavid Period. Miniature Books - The Format and Function of Tiny Religious Texts. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 72-107 Sep 2019. ISBN 9781781798614. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=37764. Date accessed: 11 Dec 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.37764. Sep 2019

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