Parchment leaf from a Koran written in early Kufi, Syria, 1st half of 8th century, 46.5 × 39.9 cm, Inv. no. 26/2003 © The David Collection.

The script on this leaf from an early Koran with a vertical format is a precursor of Kufi calligraphy, which was to be the dominant type used for Korans in the 9th century. Almost none of the diacritical marks are found here that were later commonly used to distinguish among consonants and to denote vowels.

The leaf (both sides) contains the verses from the end of sura90 to the beginning of sura 93, and the individual chapters are separated by ornamented, colored bars extending from margin to margin. Different kinds of markers were inserted between each fifth and each tenth verse.