Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Discover the Qur’an as a source of artistic inspiration and expression in this selection of works on paper from the early centuries of Islam to the present day.

The online version of the Al-Qur’an al-Karim: Sacred Verses, Beautiful Pages exhibition is now live, providing additional information about the works currently on display in the Ashmolean's Eastern Art Paintings Gallery, including zoom-able high-resolution images, detailed information about each art work, as well extended versions of the descriptive labels from the exhibition. The online exhibition also includes a number of related items not on display in the physical exhibition.

The Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims, lies at the heart of Islam’s religious experience as much as at the root of its artistic inspiration. Indeed, it is in order to preserve and disseminate the word of God that artistic practices such as Islamic calligraphy and book illumination were first developed.

Al-Qur’an al-Karim: Sacred Verses, Beautiful Pages explores the spiritual and creative forces that converge in the act of copying the noblest of Islamic texts. The exhibition brings together pages from dispersed Qur’ans, a variety of Qur’anic book formats, and contemporary interpretations of Qur’anic verses from the collections of the Ashmolean Museum, the Bodleian Libraries, and Christopher T. Gandy. Through these examples, the viewer can explore the material and stylistic features of the Qur’an, consider the artistic practices and spiritual implications leading to its reproduction, and witness the ingenious responses offered by Muslim artists to specific needs in various times and places.

After the physical display of this exhibition ends, the web-based version of the exhibition will remain online indefinitely, as an archived resource that can continue to be explored.