Professional Documents
Culture Documents
History of Ottoman Calligraphy
History of Ottoman Calligraphy
History of Ottoman Calligraphy
Introduction
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.