12. A Qur'an exercise board Sub-Saharan, perhaps West Africa, late 19th Century/early 20th Century sudani maghribi script on wood board, 14 and 15 lines on each side, handle at top 55 x 31 cm. (board) Text Side A: the bismallah, followed by Qur'an, sura VI, al-an'am, verses 111-parts of 115. Side B: the bismallah, followed by sura VI, al-an'am, verses 115-parts of verse 120. Such boards were used in North and sub-Saharan Africa to enable pupils to learn to read and write Arabic, and by extension learn the text of the Qur'an. For a similar example in the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, attributed to West Africa, 19th Century, also with a handle at the top edge, and also starting with the bismallah, see S. Vernoit, Occidentalism: Islamic Art in the 19th Century, pp. 48-49, no. 25.