History of Ottoman Calligraphy

Introduction

A Brief History of Ottoman Calligraphy

When, in the tenth century, the Turks migrated to the West from their
original home in the steppes of northwest China, they came into contact in
Turkestan, Afghanistan and Iran with the religion and culture of the
Islamic world. The mass conversion to Islamic, which resulted from this
migration, was accompanied by the abandonment of the old Uyghur
alphabet they had formerly employed and the adoption of the Arabic
script they were to use for nearly a thousand years until the introduction
of the new Turkish alphabet in 1928. But the inherently artistic nature of
the Turks inspired them with deep love for the Arabic script, which they
themselves greatly improved by the introduction of a number of changes
in form.
It was the Ottoman Turks who produced and perfected several varieties of
this type of script. All the various branches of the art of calligraphy, an art
greatly loved and respected by the Ottoman Turks, flourished particularly
in the city of Istanbul, the administrative centre of the Ottoman State, and
it was in Istanbul that the finest and most mature works were produced.

The earliest texts written in the Arabic script date back to some fifty years
before the Hegira, i.e. to about 568 A.D. The forms of the letters to be
found in this script clearly derive from the ancient Syrian script and are
reminiscent of the forms in the Nabati script employed by the earlier
inhabitants of Syria and Mesopotamia in the northern section of the Arab
peninsula.

More…The type of Arabic script in use at the time of the first emergence
of Islam was a slightly modified form of the old Syrian script and became
known as Kufic on account of its first being taught and used in the city of
Kufa in Iraq. Literate members of the Kureys tribe, to which the Prophet
Muhammad belonged, included the future Caliphs Omer, Osman and All.
After the revelation of the Qur’an, scribes copied it down in kufic script on
leather or on a kind of parchment made from the leaves of the date palm.
This type of script was later followed by other types of script known as
Thuluth and Naskhi. Kufic script was transformed into Thuluth and Naskhi
by Mehmed bin Mansur, one of the Abbasid caliphs, and by “lbni Mukle”,
who had served Mutasam as vizier. lbni Mukle had taken lessons from
“Ahval”, a pupil of Ishak bin Hammad, and achieved fame at the
beginning of the fourth century of the Hegira. He died in 328 H. (910
A.D.). After his death, Ali bin Hilal, who became famous under the name of
lbni Bevvab, improved the scripts invented by lbni Mukle and gave them
greater regularity of form, and at the same time developed the scripts
known as Reyhani and Muhaqqaq. The Ta’liq script used in writing Persian
texts is said to have been developed from Kufic script and elements of the
Pehlevi script used in Iran by a calligrapher of the name of Hoca EbulAI.
Nevertheless, it was Jamaluddin Yaqut-Musta'sami, a slave of Elmusta,
sam the last Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad, who raised the script to the
highest level of perfection. The calligrapher achieved fame in the first half
of the seventh century of Hegira and died in 698 H. (1280 A.D.). He was
the first calligrapher to give an oblique cut to the point of the reed pen
used in calligraphy. He was also the finest writer of the time in Muhakkak
script. He had a number of pupils, including Abdullah Ergun, Nasireddin
Mutatabbip, Mubarek Sah Kutup, Yusuf of Khorasan, Mir Haydar, Ahmed
Suhraverdi and Abdullah Sayref, each one of whom was a calligrapher of
very great remown.

One of the finest pieces of calligraphy of the Fatih period can be seen in
the inscription panel in Jeli Thuluth script on the outer face of the Bab-i
Humayun, the first gate leading into Topkapi Saray on the side facing
Ayasofya, is the work of Ali Sofi, one of the most celebrated calligraphers
of the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror and son and pupil of Yahya Sofi, a
student of Abdullah Sayrefi.

Towards the middle of the fifteenth century, Istanbul, now the capital of
an Empire that had arisen after the decline of the Seljuk States and the
Anatolian Emirates, became the center of a highly developed art of
calligraphy. Sheikh Hamdullah (1436-1520 A.D.), a calligrapher
encouraged and protected by Sultan Bayezid II, succeeded in creating a
new style and character in Thuluth, Naskhi and Muhakkak from a close
examination of the writings of Yakut and other members of this school,
and left specimens of calligraphy that were to constitute models for the
calligraphers that succeeded him.

Sheikh Hamdullah was a native of Amasya. He had taken lessons in

Thuluth and Naskhi from Hayreddin of Maras, a member of the Yakut
school of calligraphy. The beauty of his script attracted the attention of
sehzade (Prince) Beyazid, who was at that time governor of Amasya. The
sehzade asked him to give lessons in calligraphy to his sons, and this
subsequently resulted in a very close friend ship between the two men.
After Bayezid became Sultan he invited the calligrapher to Istanbul to
write the inscriptions in the mosque he was building and which was to
bear his name.
Sheikh Hamdullah’s arrival in Istanbul was destined to give rise to a new
school of calligraphy. The Sultan gave the Sheikh his own collection of
calligraphy; including all the examples he possessed of the works of
Yakut, and asked him if he could produce a new, individual calligraphic
script. After a careful examination of the six different types of calligraphic
script used by Yakut, Sheikh Hamdullah succeeded in creating a quite
original type of his own.

Topkapi Palace contains a calligraphic album by Sheikh Hamdullah with

examples of Thuluth, Naskhi, Muhakkak, Rik’a, Tevki and Divani scripts,
together with a very beautifully written copy of the Qur’an.

As the founder of a new school of sixteenth century calligraphy the Sheikh

had every right to the title of Kibletül Kuttab (paragon of scribes), which
he was generally given. This school succeeded in perfecting the Naskhi
script in copying books, thus making possible the production of the
thousands of exquisite manuscript books contained in our libraries and
museums.

In the same period another great master of calligraphy, Ahmed Karahisari

(1468-1556), introduced a completely original calligraphic style, thus
opening a new era in the art of calligraphy. Karahisari, a pupil of Esadullah
Kirmani and very much influenced by the work of Yahya Sofi, continued
the tradition of the Yakut school, which was later continued by Karahisaris
son Hasan Celebi, another very great calligrapher.

Karahisari was recognized in his own time as a calligrapher of outstanding

merit, and two very beautifully illuminated copies of the Qur’an, one large
and the other of medium size, are now preserved in Topkapi Saray. The
larger copy of the Qur’an is written in Muhakkak, Thuluth, Naskhi and
Reyhani, and each page is decorated with four koltuks. This Qur’an is a
masterpiece of calligraphy, decorative illumination and binding.
The superb inscriptions in the mosques of Süleymaniye in Istanbul and
Selimiye in Edirne, built at the height of Ottoman power and
magnificence, are the work of these masters. But this school proved to be
short-lived and came to an end with the inscriptions by Demirci Kulu Yusuf
in the mosque of Kilic All Pasha in Istanbul.

The school of Sheikh Hamdullah, on the contrary, was to continue its

development right up to the present day, the greatest and most famous
Turkish calligraphers being products of this school. The script developed
by these calligraphers was of such beauty and perfection as to give rise to
the following saying, which is tube found quoted throughout the Islamic
world and is undoubtedly an accurate reflection of the truth: “The Quran
was revealed in Mecca, read in Egypt and written in Istanbul”.

The following are some of the most celebrated calligraphers trained in the
Sheikh Hamdullah tradition: Sheikh Hamdullah’s son Mustafa Dede, his
son-in-law Sükrullah Halite, his grandson Dervish Mehmed Said, another
grandson Mehmed Dede, Abdullah Kirimi, Hasan Usküdari, Halid Erzurumi,
Mehmed Beigradi, Dervish All “Eski”, small Zühdi, Hüseyin Habli, and
Mustafa Kutahi.

A very important place in the history of Turkish calligraphy is occupied by

another member of this school, the great calligrapher Hafiz Osman, who
gave Naskhi script its finest form and was rightly known as “Seyhi-Sani” or
the “second Sheikh”. He died in 1110 H. (1698 A.D.) after having trained a
number of very great masters of calligraphy, the most famous of these
being Seyyid Abdullah of Yedikule. Another two great calligraphers
belonging to the same school are small bin All of Agakapi and the court
tutor Mehmed Rasim Efendi of Egrikapi who gave lessons in calligraphy to
the Sultans Mustafa II and Ahmed III.

In the second half of the twelfth century of the Hegira (eighteenth century
AD.) and throughout the thirteenth century there were a number of
brilliant calligraphers who achieved particular tame for their use of
Thuluth, Jell Thuluth, Naskhi and Ta’liq. The most outstanding of these
were Katipzade Mehmed Refi Rodosi Ibrahim, Ebubekir Rasid of Konya,
Saray Hocasi Yusuf, Sekerzade Mehmed Effendi, Yahya Fahreddin,
Gebecizade Mehmed Vasfi, small Zühdi yeni, his brother Mustafa Rakim,
Mahmud Celaleddin, Kazasker Mustafa Izzet, Mehmed sefik, Muhsinzade
Abdullah, Abdullah Zühdi, Vahdeti, Esad Yesari, Yesarizade Mustafa Izzet,
Yahya Hilmi, and Mehmed Sevki. Cf these, Mustafa Rakim was absolutely
unsurpassed in his command of Thuluth and Jell Thuluth. The perfection
he attained in these scripts are illustrated by the Jell Thuluth frieze
inscription in the Nusretiye Mosque at Tophane and the inscription over
the door of the same mosque, the inscriptions on the on the tomb and
fountain of Naksidil Valde Sultan in the vicinity of Fatih Mosque, and by
the inscriptions carved on tombstones in various Istanbul cemeteries. It
was also Rakim who gave the tughra of the Ottoman Sultans its definitive
form, so that although the actual name of the Sultan might change the
form of the tughra remained constant.
Ta’liq was a type of script invented in Iran and which always remained
very closely associated with that country. It began to be used in Turkey in
the second half of the eleventh century of the Hegira (sixteenth century
AD.) following the arrival in Istanbul of Dervish Abdi of Bukhara, one of the
pupils of mad-i Hasani, the great Iranian master of Ta’Iiq. Dervish Abdi
introduced a smaller and finer version of Ta’liq known as Nesta’liq, and his
influence led to a great increase in the number of calligraphers who
developed an interest in Ta’Iiq and, consequently, in the number of works
produced in this script. When he died in 1057 H. (1647 AD.) he left behind
him many calligraphers who had taken lessons from him.

Nevertheless, it was in the twelfth century of the Hegira (eighteenth

century AD.) that Ta’liq achieved its ultimate perfection. A large number
of great calligraphers in Ta’liq script emerged at this period, one of them
being Katipzade Mehmed Refi, who had been a pupil of Kazasker
Abdulbaki Arif Effendi and Durmuszade Ahmed Efendi. Mebmed Refi was
undoubtedly one of the most outstanding masters of Ta’Iiq script at this
period.
Other important masters who played a part in the development of Ta’liq
script were calligraphers like Sheikh-uI Islam Veliyy’uddin Effendi and
Mehmed Dedezade, who made their name through their use of this type of
writing. The development of Ta’Iiq reached its highest peak of
achievement in the work of Mehmed Esad Yesari, who received his icazet
from Dedezade Mehmet Effendi in 1167 H. (1753 A.D.). Mehmed Esad
Yesari was paralyzed down one side of his body and could write only with
his left hand.

Ottoman Ta’liq differed in several respects from Iranian Ta’liq, and one is
immediately struck by the difference in the formation of certain letters as
well as in the general appearance of the script as a whole. The various
slight modifications made first by Katipzade Mehmed Refi and then by
Yesari resulted in this creation of what could well be described as a clearly
distinctive Ottoman Ta’Iiq script.

Mehmed Esad Yesari’s son Mustafa Izzet Effendi followed in his father’s
footsteps as a master of Ta’Iiq script. A number of inscriptions by both
father and son are to be found carved in stone above the entrance doors
of a number of mosques, tombs, medreses, imarets, fountains and schools
in Istanbul.
The Turkish Ta’liq developed by these two calligraphers, which differs
slightly from Iranian Ta’Iiq, served as a model for the Turkish calligraphers
who succeeded them and a large number of very fine works were
produced in line with the principles they themselves had laid down. The
greatest of the calligraphers in this tradition was Sami Effendi, who was
succeeded by Kemal Batanay and by his own pupils Necmeddin Effendi
and Hulusi Effendi. Sami Effendi was also a master of Jeli Thuluth and
produced some very fine compositions in this type of script.
As for Thuluth and Naskhi scripts, the style and character developed by
the great master of calligraphy Mustafa Rakim was carried on with great
meticulousness by Mehmed sevki Effendi, who was succeeded in the same
tradition by his own pupil Fehmi Effendi, as well as by “Bakkal” Ahmet Arif
Effendi of Filibe and Aziz Effendi.

The style developed by Mustafa Rakim was continued right up to the

middle of the twentieth century by Mehmed Nazif, a pupil of the great
calligrapher in Jell Thuluth, Sami Effendi, Mehmed Nazif’s pupil Hamid
Aytac Bey, the tughrakesh small Hakki Bey, the then Reis-ül Hattatin
Ahmed Kamil Akdik and his pupil Mustafa Halim Ozyazici.

Other great masters of Turkish calligraphy in the Naskhi script include

Hasan Riza Effendi, who made very beautiful copies of verses, murakkas
and Qur’ans in the style developed by Kazasker Izzet Effendi, his pupil
Omer Vasfi Effendi and Kazasker Mustafa Izzet’s pupil Mehmed Arif Effendi
of Carsamba.
At the present day the tradition of Turkish calligraphy is being carried on
by Hasan lelebi, a pupil of Hamid Aytac, the greatest master of recent
times, who died in 1982, Mahmud Oncü, a pupil of the Besiktas
calligrapher Nun Korman, Bekir Pekten, a pupil of Mustafa Halim, and All
Alparsian, a pupil of Necmeddin Okyay.

Great admiration has been aroused both at home and abroad by the
varied and highly original compositions created in a contemporary
adaptation of Kufic and Jeli Divani scripts by Professor Emin Barin, who
took lessons in calligraphy from the Reis-ul Hattat in Haci Ahmet, the
greatest calligrapher of recent times.

We may sum up by saying that Turkish calligraphy has shown a

continuous development in strict conformity with tradition, without any
deterioration in its essential character, that various original types of script
have been invented, such as Divani, Siyakat, Tevki and Rik’a (these will be
treated in detail in the section of the book dealing with types of script),
and that a large number of works were produced over the years, each one
surpassing those preceding it in beauty and maturity.

A very important role in the ordered and regular development of Turkish

calligraphy was undoubtely played by the encouragement and protection
given by the State, the Sultans and the Palace, and by the opportunies
offered by the arts of architecture and decoration. In every period the
Enderun School in the Ottoman Saray, in which future administrators of
the State were trained and educated, had teachers of calligraphy on its
staff, and several the Sultans took lessons from these. The great respect
in which these teachers were held is illustrated by the story describing
how Sultan Bayezid II, a pupil of the great master of calligraphy Sheikh
Hamdullah, stood holding the inkstand while the master wrote. The
Sultans Ahmet I, Mahmud II, who was a pupil of the calligrapher Mustafa
Rakim, and Abdulmecit were all skilled calligraphers.