On western laid paper. The watermarks present in this volume are consistent with an example presented by both Briquet (13200) and Heawood (2171), depicting the repeated motif of a bunch of grapes topped with a '4+' on an 'M'. Briquet locates the production of this paper in Bayonne (France) in 1588 and although Heawood only provides a rough date of 'c. 1579', they do reference the first issue of Saxon's Atlas with this paper stock - which was printed in 1579. Thus there is a safe assumption to be made that this paper in circulation between 1579 and 1588, placing this manuscript firmly in the sixteenth century.

The use of Western laid paper for manuscript production is not uncommon in the Maghreb during the sixteenth century. Sheila Blaire notes that 'chanceries in the Maghreb had used European laid paper at least since the mid-fourteenth century, and by the fifteenth century Italian paper had entirely replaced local production in cities such as Tlemcen and Fez' (pp.398, Sheila S. Blaire, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh, 2006). However, the format of the present Qur'an is unusual for Qur'ans from this region, which are usually smaller and adapt a square format, instead of the slightly lengthened rectangular style of this codex. Furthermore, the text-blocks are densely copied with 17 lines of text per page, indicating that this Qur'an would likely have been produced as a single volume Qur'an instead of a multi-volume edition that is commonly associated with production in the Maghreb.

Single volume, illuminated manuscript on paper, in Arabic, 30 leaves, containing continuous text from Surah Az-Aumar (39:14) to Surah Ar-Rahman (55:17), then Surah Al-Waqi'ah (58:1) to Surah As-Saf (61:03), 31 leaves, copied onto Western laid paper watermarked with a grape and "4+ M" motif, lacking one or two leaves of text to complete Surah Ar-Rahman (56) and Surah al-Hadid (57), first four leaves mis-bound (appearing at the beginning of the text instead of at the end), c. 275 x 200 mm; single column, 17 lines sepia maghribi script, diacritics in red, numerous surah headings in yellow throughout, sukoons and verses marked with yellow dots, important qur'anic divisions marked by gold roundels in the margins, some light water-staining to outer margins, some occasional rubbing and light offsetting; modern light tan leather over boards, a little rubbed.