Ottoman Style Calligraphy

by Mohamed Zakariya

Historians of Arabic-script calligraphy note hundreds if not thousands of practitioners. Most were modest craftsmen—katibs, or scribes, people who copied texts. We are more concerned here with those who flourished in the Ottoman state and, later, in modern Turkey. As their country modernized, so did the work of the scribes and hattats (calligraphic artists). The 800 or more years that preceded Ottoman calligraphy is another story. Our story begins with Sheyh Hamdullah (c. 1436-1520), who transformed the various scripts. Among the countless students who followed him were his sons and descendants, a few of whom we list here.

The goal of those who followed the sheyh was to abide by his methods and to write the way he did. A few of these people are named in the following list, an abbreviated list of the top calligraphers who came after the illustrious Sheyh Hamdullah:

·      The first of the sheyh’s descendands were hs son Mustafa Dede (d. 1532) and son-in-law Shukrullah Halife (d. ?), among others.

·      The teaching was handed down through people such as Halid Erzurumi (d. 1631) and Nefeszade Ismail (d. 1679)

·      Improvements in the art were originated by Hafiz Osman (d. 1698) and then by Yedikuleli Seyyid Abdullah (d. 1731) and Mehmed Rasim (d. 1826).

·      Moving into more modern times, we have Ismail Zuhdi (d. 1806), his genius brother Mustafa Rakim (d. 1829), and the North Star of calligraphers Kadiasker Mustafa Izzet (d. 1876).

 The followers of the kadiasker (chief judge) form the longest surviving teaching chain of calligraphers in the 19th, 20th, and now 21st centuries:

·      Mehmed Shefik (d. 1880) and Mehmed Shevki (d. 1887). Mehmed Shevki was out of this series, but everybody nevertheless studies his work.

·      Kayishzade Hafiz Osman (d. 1894), Bakkal Arif (d. 1909), Hasan Riza (d. 1920), Sami (d. 1912), and Hamid Aytach (d. 1982).

·      Still carrying on the tradition is Hasan Celebi.

 Calligraphers love these people. We cherish their work and their stories.

The calligraphers included in this small collection are descendants in this line. All have studied to some degree with Hasan Hoca: Mohamed Zakariya, who received his icazet (license) in Sulus and Nesih scripts from Hasan Celebi; Nihad Dukhan, who received his icazet in Sulus and Nesih scripts from Hasan Celebi and his icazet in Talik script from Mohamed Zakariya; Deniz Oktem Bektas, Nuria Garcia Masip, Aishah Elinor Holland, and Manzar Moghbeli, who received icazets from Zakariya; and Halid Casadao who received his icazet from Nuria Garcia Masip.

Sidebar: The Talik Script

The line of descent in Ottoman-style Talik is roughly as follows:

·      Yesari Mehmed Esad (d. 1798)

·      Yesarizade Mustafa Izzet (d. 1849)

·      Ali Haydar (d. 1870)

·      Sami (d. 1912)

·      Mehmed Hulusi Yazgan (d. 1940)

·      Necmeddin Okyay (d. 1976)

·      Ali Alparslan (d. 2006)

 Mohamed Zakariya received his icazet in Talik script from Ali Alparslan.