{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1409994"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1409994/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AY3465/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AY3465/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AY3465","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BA1377","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BG2438","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY3464","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC5880","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1409994/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1409994","accessionNumber":"1070A-1869","objectType":"Bookbinding","titles":[{"title":"Upper cover of a bookbinding ","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"1 bookbinding: front cover\r\nbrown leather over paper pasteboards; blind and gold tooling\r\nThe inner rectangular panel contains elaborate floral decoration with a scalloped outline in almond shape in the centre. This is repeated in sections in the corners of the panel. Three types of flowers are shown on the  sinuous stems which frame the almond shape. The main outer margin consists of a broad border divided into a number of panels with diagonal knotwork patterns. The pasteboards are made up of a large number of sheets of paper with naskh script in a variety of hands.\nThe back cover of this binding is 1070C-1869. A set of detached Koran leaves also in the collection (MSL/1869/7217) were probably part of the book this cover was made for.  ","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"leather","id":"AAT11845"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"pasteboard","id":"AAT162474"}],"techniques":[{"text":"bookbinding","id":"AAT53592"},{"text":"blind tooling","id":"AAT252855"},{"text":"writing","id":"AAT54698"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"National Art Library","id":"THES271541"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"},{"text":"Bookbinding","id":"THES253015"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"NAL","id":"THES48605"},"images":["2006AY3465","2006BA1377","2006BG2438","2006AY3464","2017KC5880"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"TRANS6","id":"THES250500"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Bookbinding","id":"AAT53592"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Egypt","id":"x29512"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Cairo","id":"x28776"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"15th century","earliest":"1400-01-01","latest":"1499-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"38041701007536","id":"O1410001"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"38041800393233","id":"O1758819"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"952","unit":"mm","qualifier":"Closed","date":{"text":"17/04/2024","earliest":"2024-04-17","latest":"2024-04-17"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"670","unit":"mm","qualifier":"Closed","date":{"text":"17/04/2024","earliest":"2024-04-17","latest":"2024-04-17"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"9","unit":"mm","qualifier":"Closed","date":{"text":"17/04/2024","earliest":"2024-04-17","latest":"2024-04-17"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased in Paris as part of \"Dr Meymar's Collection\", a group of historic objects sent to France by the Egyptian government, for display at the international exhibition of 1867. In 1869, following discussions at a parliamentary Select Committee in London, the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A) was authorised to buy this collection, with British government funds.\r\n\"Dr Meymar\" was Husayn Fahmi (c.1827-1891), also called Husayn Pasha al-Mi`mar or al-Mi`mari (transliterated as \"Meymar\", meaning architect), a senior official in the Egyptian administration. He was (in 1864) the chief architect of the Majlis al-Tanzim wa'l-Urnatu, a committee in charge of public works in Cairo, and later (1882-5) a member of the Comite de conservation des monuments de l'Art arabe, which oversaw Cairo's historic heritage. Throughout his career, he was responsible for salvage and removal of historic architectural fittings, and for the construction of modern monuments and streets in the Egyptian capital.\nTogether with the collection of Gaston de Saint-Maurice (accessioned in 1884), the Meymar collection was the foundational collection of ‘Saracenic’ art – or the art of the Mamluks (ruled Egypt and Syria 1250-1517) – in this museum.\r\nThis item was later transferred internally from the Art Museum to the Library. \r\nParts of the same book in the V&A Collection: 1070A-1869, 1070C-1869, MSL/1869/7217. \r\nParts of the same book in other collections: Dole, Bibliothèque patrimoniale. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Detached binding, Front cover, Egypt, 15th century.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Haldane, D., Islamic Bookbindings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1983.","id":"AUTH354529"},"details":"pp. 38-39, pl. 18 and 20. ","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"E. Cellard, 'Le grand Coran mamlouk de Dole' (episode 1), 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpvwOitxDNo (accessed 13/02/2025). \r\nE. Cellard, 'The Mamluk Qur'an manuscript of Dole (episode 2), 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFsW_oFi-d8 (accessed 13/02/2025)"},{"reference":{"text":"Carine Juvin, Mamlouks: 1250-1517, Paris: Skira: Louvre, 2025","id":"AUTH410893"},"details":"pp. 262-263, cat. 193","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Jameel Gallery \n\nBook Covers                                                                                                  \nEgypt, probably Cairo                                                                              \n1400-1500                                                                                                     \n\nThese enormous covers probably protected the Qur'an leaves shown below [i.e. MSL/7217/1869]. The border is filled with knotwork. In the main field a floral design runs between the central medallion and the quarter-medallions in the corners. This decoration was produced by applying small tools directly to the leather (tooling in blind) or through gold leaf (tooling in gold).     \n\nLeather over pasteboard, tooled in blind and in gold      \nMuseum no. 1070A, C-1869\r\n","date":{"text":"2006","earliest":"2006-01-01","latest":"2006-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["38041701007528"],"accessionNumberNum":"38041701007528","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"NAL barcode","id":"THES50330"},"number":"38041701007528"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN7517","2019LU9037","2019LV3668"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-19","recordCreationDate":"2017-08-16","availableToBook":false}}