Shafi’i Sufi Niello Silver Octagonal Miniature Koran Case

Miniature silver Koran cases such as this example usually are attributed to Iran/Persia and sometimes to northern India. However the niello work on this example suggests a provenance in the Caucasus – perhaps Georgia or Dagestan. (Ottoman Turkey and the Kyrgyz people of the Emirate of Bukhara are other possibilities.)

The case has eight sides and a hinged cover. Two loops on each side allowed the case to be fixed to textile bands which could then be tied around the upper arm for example, and worn as a bazuband – a talismanic or protective device, often worn by Muslim soldiers.

The case would have held a miniature Koran or booklet of Koranic verses cut in octagonal shape to match the case.

Typically such cases were worn on the upper part of the body and never below the waist out of respect to the contents.

The example here has been decorated with niello work, whereby the silver has been partly darked with black enamel to create motifs and script.

The Arabic on the cover is a complex and fine rendering that has been done as the mirror image of itself – it can be read from right-to left but also from left-to-right.

The majority of Dagestani Muslims and the Muslim minority in Georgia follow Sunni Islam, specifically the Shafi’i school.  A high proportion of these adhere to Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam. Shafi’i Sufi tradition permits and even encourages the use of talismans, amulets and charms, inscribed with Koranic texts, so the case here can be seen as very much in that tradition.

The case is in excellent condition.