Layout: Written in 15 lines per page (single column)
Script: Naskh ; fine, bold Kashmiri hand, mainly serifless but with barbed left-sloping serif on alif of lām-alif ligature, fairly vertical but with occasional very slight effect of tilt to the left, spacious curvilinear descenders (some sweeping), final and isolated nūn slightly angled with point set just inside deep but somewhat narrow bowl, pointing in distinct dots (two-dots occasionally written vertically), fully vocalized.
Decoration: Splendid double-page illumination at opening consisting of a series of scalloped domes filled with floral vegetal designs in gold with black outline on gold and lapis ground, defined by bands of red-orange, lavender, and white, bordered in heavy gold bands, some with floral motifs and outermost with bordering floral and vertical strokes in blue ; written area at opening carries text of Sūrat al-Fātiḥah (set in almond shape) flanked by upper and lower rectangular pieces with gold cartouches carrying the sūrah headings in blue ; similar double-page illumination at close of Qurʼānic text (Sūrat al-Falaq and Sūrat al-Nās) ; illuminated headpiece in w-shaped piece / scalloped dome at opening of Sūratal-Baqarah ; elsewhere rectangular illuminated headpieces carry sūrah headings in blue riqāʻ within gold cartouches flanked by floral designs in gold on a dark blue ground ; written area and margin throughout surrounded by frame in a series of gold bands with red and blue rules ; narrow bands of gold separate lines of text ; marginal decorations in gold, blue, red, etc mark eachrubʻ, ḥizb, etc ; abbreviation marks (mainly curved strokes and sigla for pauses), large ʻayn (set in boteh design) in margin to indicate bowing (rukūʻ), and marginal headings all rubricated ; verse dividers in the form of gold discs outlined in black.
Binding: Thick boards covered in painted lacquerwork, spine and fore-edge flap in brown leather ; Type II binding (with flap) ; doublures in painted lacquerwork of dark blue ; upper and lower covers bear paintings of nearly identical swirling floral composition namely central panel filled with clusters of peonies, roses, etc in shades of pink, red, and white on a dark blue ground, set off by border of gold vegetal design on dark blue ground.
Origin: Lacks dated colophon. Decoration, binding, etc suggest mid to late 19th century Kashmir (compare Safwat, Golden Pages, no.38 p.166-169).
Shelfmark: Madison, University of Wisconsin, MS 563
Safwat, Nabil F. Golden Pages: Qur'ans and Other Manuscripts from the Collection of Ghassan I. Shaker (Oxford, 2000) no. 38, p.166-169
Bayani, Manijeh, Anna Contadini & Tim Stanley. The Decorated word: Qur'ans of the 17th to 19th Centuries (London, 1999), p228-57