A LOOSE QUR'ANIC OPENING FOLIO Ottoman Turkey, 17th - 18th century  Sura 2 (Al Baqara), Arabic manuscript on paper, the folio with 6ll. of free-flowing black ink thuluth script, black diacritic marks, once part of a monumental opening bifolio with richly ornate borders in gold, orange and light blue pigments, sura heading in white ink against a gold ground in a polylobed cartouche, the heading filled with gold vegetal tendrils repeating the same pattern of the outer borders and framed within orange and gold rules, the recto with polychrome and gold roundels as verse markers, within gold rules, mounted, framed and glazed, the folio 35cm x 22cm and 64cm x 47.5cm including the frame. Provenance: UK private collection since 1980s.