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The genealogical seal of the Mughal emperors of India was one of the most potent symbols of Mughal imperial authority. The distinctive design of the seal - a central circle containing the name of the ruling emperor, surrounded by a series of smaller circles, like satellites in orbit, containing the names of his ancestors up to Timūr (1336–1405) each preceded by the filiative ibn - was a self-evident masterpiece of imperial symbolism, in which the authority of the ruling emperor was both legitimised and enhanced by the deliberate reference to his illustrious ancestors. The inscription was designed to be read starting with the ruling emperor's name in the middle, then moving into the outer circle to the name of his immediate predecessor (at 1 o'clock) and, continuing clockwise, finishing up at Timur, who always had pride of place at the top of the seal. In this way, each ruler was expressed as the son of his predecessor, while at the same time, from his central position abutting all the smaller circles, the ruling emperor could be read symbolically as the “son” of each of his ancestors.

Aceh has long been renowned as a centre of Islamic scholarship, and some of the most famous Malay texts were composed in this area of north Sumatra. However, despite an abundance of philological and literary studies of texts from Aceh, little attention has yet been paid to the materiality of the manuscript culture of the region. A small collection of 18 manuscripts from Aceh now in the British Library has therefore been subjected to detailed codicological scrutiny. These manuscripts, which appear to be representative of the books which circulated in the 18th and 19th century, contain multiple texts in Arabic, Malay and Acehnese, and the full contents of each volume are identified and contextualised with respect to other collections. Particular attention is paid to the original covers or bindings of the manuscripts, and illuminated elements, and some comments are drawn about the broader Acehnese tradition.

Annabel Teh Gallop, The British Library, London & Ali Akbar, Office for Research, Development and Training, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Jakarta The Art of the Qur'an in Banten: Calligraphy and Illumination Cet article traite de treize copies du Coran de Banten, datant pour la plupart du XVIIIe s. et qui, par bien des aspects, diffèrent de celles des autres pays d'Asie du Sud-Est. Dans ce corpus, deux groupes peuvent être identifiés : l'un constitué par de très grandes copies destinées à des institutions publiques, et l'autre par de plus petites, plus proches de la norme nousantarienne. On peut sans doute dire que le trait le plus caractéristique de ces copies du Coran de Banten est la qualité de la calligraphie du texte arabe qui atteint ici un niveau rarement rencontré en Insulinde. On peut même considérer qu'il existe, en ce qui concerne la calligraphie, un «style de Banten» appelé «Naskhï de Banten». En revanche, si on juge les plus belles copies d'Asie du Sud-Est par leurs enluminures, à Banten ce sont apparemment d'autres canons esthétiques qui ont prévalu, marqués par la primauté accordée à la calligraphie.