Hamid Aytac [1954]

Signed Hamid Aytaç, Jali Thuluth Panel, 54.00 x 50.00 cm, dated H. 1374 (1954)

Photography/ Text © Antik A.S.

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Abdulmecid bin Mahmud [( 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire) 1823-1861]

Thuluth Nasih panel, 27.00 x 34.00 cm, signed Abdülmecid Bin Mahmud (Sultan Abdü’l-Mecīd-i evvel) (1823-1861)

Photography/ Text © Antik A.S.

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Hafız Mehmed Fehmi Efendi [b.1860-d.1915]

Aşere-i Mucize, 56.00 x 41.00 cm, dated H. 1304 (1886), signed by Hafız Mehmed Fehmi Efendi (1860-1915)

Photography/ Text © Antik A.S.

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Kazasker Mustafa Izzet Efendi [1848]

Kazasker Mustafa İzzet, Hilye-i Şerife, 90.00 x 56.00 cm, dated H. 1265 (1848), signed by Calligrapher

Photography/ Text © Antik A.S.

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Sheikh Sirri [1866]

Calligraphic panel (Dervish Lodge Style), 74.00 x 70.00 cm, dated H. 1283 (1866), signed Sheikh Sırrı

Photography/ Text © Antik A.S.

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Hulusi Efendi [ca.1923]

Calligraphic Panel, text in jali talik, 51.00 x 52.00 cm, dated 1923, signed by Hulusi Efendi

Photography/ Text © Antik A.S.

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QUR'AN LEAF IN KUFIC SCRIPT ON VELLUM

Photography© Sotheby´s

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Esseyid Mehmed Ferid [(Nakshiband) 1878]

Icazet Hilye-i Şerife, 57.00 x 41.00 cm, dated H. 1296 (1878), signed, Esseyid Mehmet Ferit (Nakşibendi)

Photography/ Text © Antik A.S.

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Hafız Vahdeti [b.1832-d.1896]

Tuhgra panel signed Hafız Vahdeti (1832-1896), dated h.1278 (1861), dimension 68.00 x 90.00 cm.

Photography/ Text © Antik A.Ş

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Ferid [b.1858- d. ?]

Tuhgra panel signed Ferid (b.1858-d.?), dated h.1308 (1890), dimension 48.00 x 57.00 cm.

Photography/ Text © Antik A.Ş

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by MEHMET TEVFİK (b. ? – d.?) signed and dated, h.1328 (1910). Jali Thuluth style.

Photography/ Text © Portakal Sanat ve Kültür Evi, Istanbul, Turkey

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by MEHMET TEVFİK (b. ? – d.?) signed and dated, h.1328 (1910). Jali Thuluth style with ottoman rococo ornaments. It reads: “Ya Hazret-i Şeyh Sultan Seyyid Abdülkadir Geylani Kuddise Sırrıhü” Dimension 46 x 34 cm.

Photography/ Text © Portakal Sanat ve Kültür Evi, Istanbul, Turkey

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Hasan Temiztürk (b Sivas, 12 May 1959)

(b. Taslihüyük/Sivas, Turkey 12.May 1959) Turkish calligrapher. He lives and works since 1969 in Germany. His line is a combination of classical- and experimental-modern style. Temiztürks works of art are contemporary, unique, spectacular and on unusual materials.Very new compositions are never seen before. As an peaceworker he describes himself as a mediator between the cultures and religions. Work for art and culture exchange, better understanding and living in peace together in our small transitory world. Hasan Temiztürk is one of the world most collected islamic calligraphic artists. In more than 100 Mosques in Germany his works are exhibited. His works can be found in many private collections like, Collection of Crown Prince of Dubai H.H. Shaikh Muhammed Rashed Al Maktoum, Finance Min. of UAE Dr. Muhammed Khalfan Bin Karbash, Shayka Hussah Al Sabah- Kuwait, HM.Sultan Bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Sharja, HM. Haji Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah Brunei HM.Queen Elisabeth II, PM Tony Blair, London Mayor K. Livingstone, Ex. Turkish President Süleyman Demirel, Annemarie Schimmel, Dow Jones: Rushdi Siddique,Turkish National Library Ankara,Calligraphic Museum Istanbul.

Exhibitions and Workshops

1989 Nour Mosque, Karlsruhe, Germany
1990 Central Library Duisburg, Germany
1991 Barockhäuser, Würzburg, Germany
1992 Historic City Hall, Hanau, Germany
1993 Academie Plast Kunsten, Genk, Belgium
1994 Pfälz. State Library, Speyer, Germany
1995 Museum Verkehr-Technik, Berlin, Germany- Meeting of world calligraphers
1996 State Parliament Schleswig Holstein Kiel, Germany
1997 Klingspor Museum, Offenbach, Germany
Official invitation by President of Republic of Turkey Süleyman Demirel, Ankara, Turkey
1998 Official invit. German catholics church meeting as 1. muslim artist, Mainz, Germany
1999 Invitation to Heimatmuseum Berlin, Germany
2000 Invitation to Opendeuwekk Antwerp-Belgium
2000 City Library Worms, Germany
2001 „MS Marksburg“(Ship) Mannheim, Germany
2001 Official invitation German protestant church meeting as 1. muslim artist Frankfurt
2003 Forum Lohberg Dinslaken
2004 International Finance Forum Dubai- U.A.E
Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, Germany
University of Heilbronn, Germany
Lecture "Islamic Art History" and workshop"Arabic Calligraphy", Heilbronn, Germany
2006 State Parlament Rheinland. Pfz. Mainz, Germany
1.Islamic, Christian, Jewish and Budism Interfaith Exhibition.
2007 University of Frankfurt, Germany
Lecture "Islamic Art History" and workshop "Arabic Calligraphy" Frankfurt, Germany


Contact

Hasan Temiztürk
Hohestrasse 10
D-63069 Offenbach/M., Germany
Phone + 49-(0)176- 240 690 02
email: htemiztuerk@aol.com
www.fuen-ul-islam.de

Get direction: Location Map

Photography/ Text © by artist Hasan Temiztürk.

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Hafiz Osman (b Istanbul, 1642; d Istanbul, 1698)

(b Istanbul, 1642; d Istanbul, 1698)Ottoman calligrapher. Son of a muezzin at the Haseki Sultan Mosque, he memorized the Koran at an early age and became known as Hafiz (Arab.: ‘he who knows the Koran by heart’). The Ottoman grand vizier Mustafa Pasha encouraged him to study with the Dervish ‛Ali Mustafa al-Ayyubi (d 1668) and then with Nafaszada Sayyid Ismail Efendi. Hafiz Osman attained his degree at the age of 18 and spent most of his life teaching and writing. His pupils ranged from the Sultans Mustafa II (reg 1695–1703) and Sultan Ahmad III (reg 1703–30) to poor students for whom he set aside one day a week. Considered the second most important Ottoman calligrapher after Seyh Hamdullah, Hafiz Osman evolved a simple, pure style of naskh based on that of Yaqut al-musta‛simi and Seyh Hamdullah. This style became the model for later calligraphers such as Mustafa Raqim Efendi, Mahmud Cemaledin Efendi (d 1829) and Mustafa Izzet Efendi. Hafiz Osman was also responsible for the development of dīvānī jalī, an ornamental script used in the chancelleries for official documents. In addition to transcribing many copies of the Koran (e.g. Istanbul, U. Lib., A. 6549), single pieces and albums of exercises, he was one of the first to pen large calligraphic descriptions of the Prophet Muhammad (Arab. hilya; e.g. 1691; Dublin, Chester Beatty Lib., MS. 2). He was paralysed three years before his death and was buried in the Koca Mustafa Pasha cementery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. James: Islamic Masterpieces of the Chester Beatty Library (London, 1981), no. 40
H. Lowry: ‘Calligraphy: Hüsn-i hat’, Tulips, Arabesques & Turbans: Decorative Arts from the Ottoman Empire, ed. Y. Petsopoulos (London, 1982), p. 173; no. 174
The Anatolian Civilisations III: Seljuk/Ottoman (exh. cat., 18th Council of Europe exh.; Istanbul, 1983), no. E.309

Photography/ Text © HAT SAN'ATI Tarihçe, Malzeme ve Örnekler, Istanbul. http://ismek.ibb.gov.tr/portal/yayinlarimiz.asp Text: www.groveart.com

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Necmeddin Okyay Efendi [Efendi, Necmeddin; Üsküdari (b Istanbul, 29 Jan 1883; d Istanbul, 5 Jan 1976) ]

(b Istanbul, 29 Jan 1883; d Istanbul, 5 Jan 1976). Turkish calligrapher. He attended the Ravzai Terakki school, where he received lessons in calligraphy from Mehmed Şevki and from Hasan Talat Bey. In 1905 he received permission to write in the ta’lıq style from Sami Efendi (1838–1912) and in 1906 received permission for the thuluth and naskh styles from Bakkal Arif Efendi. Later, at the School of Calligraphers, he learnt to draw tughras and practised jali-thuluth (Turk. celi-sülüs) with Ismail Hakkı Altınbezer (1870–1946). He also learnt from Shaykh Ethem Efendi the art of marbled paper, at which he became very skilful. His use of the surname Okyay came from his proficiency at archery. He succeeded his father as preacher and Imam at the Yenicami mosque at Üsküdar in Istanbul, where he remained for 40 years. He taught at the School of Calligraphers, the Oriental Decorative Arts School and finally at the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul, where he practised the ta’lıq style with his pupils. In addition to writing, he explored many crafts and skills related to calligraphy. From Baha Efendi he learnt the art of Turkish classical bookbinding and made fine sunburst bindings, and in turn trained Emin Barın (b 1913) and Islam Seçen in this art. He also learnt how to polish paper, developed formulae for preparing different varieties of ink and was skilled at identifying unsigned works of calligraphy. Among his pupils was the calligrapher Ali Alparslan (b 1925).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
S. Rado, ed.: Türk hattatlari [Turkish calligraphers] (Istanbul, n.d.), p. 265 [Turk. text]
M. Ülker: The Art of Turkish Calligraphy from the Beginning up to Present (n.p., 1987), p. 89 [Eng. and Turk. texts]

Photography © Gallery of Portakal Sanat ve Kültür Evi, Istanbul. Text: Grove Art Online

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Mehmed Şefik [Şefik Bey; (b Istanbul, 1819; d Istanbul, 1880) ]

(b Istanbul, 1819; d Istanbul, 1880). Ottoman calligrapher. He first studied calligraphy with Ali Vasfi and then with Mustafa Izzet. In 1845 he was appointed teacher of calligraphy to the Muzika-i Hümayun, the imperial brass band. Together with the calligrapher Abdülfettah (1814–96), he was sent by Sultan Abdülmecid (reg 1839–61) to Bursa to repair the inscriptions in the Ulu Cami (congregational mosque), which had been severely damaged in the earthquake of 1855. His inscriptions there are reckoned among his finest works. During the three years he spent on this project he also wrote inscriptions in other mosques. His work includes beautiful compositions in thuluth, jalī, naskh and dīvānī scripts.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

K. Baykal: Bursa’da Ulu Câmi [The Ulu Cami of Bursa] (Istanbul, 1950)
A. S. Ünver: Hattat Şefik Bey (1819–1880): Hayatı ve eserleri [The calligrapher Şefik Bey (1819–1880): his life and works] (Istanbul, 1956)
Ş.Rado: Türk hattatları [Turkish calligraphers] (Istanbul, n.d.), pp. 220–21

Photography © Gallery of Portakal Sanat ve Kültür Evi, Istanbul. Text www.groveart.com

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Ancient Arabic Calligraphy Available Online on Library of Congress

A collection of Arabic script calligraphy sheets dating from the 8th to 19th centuries is now available on the Library of Congress' Global Gateway Web site at http://international.loc.gov/intldl/apochtml/.

During the late 1920s, early 1930s and 1990s the Library of Congress acquired a large collection of Arabic script calligraphy sheets. Almost all of the sheets were acquired from Kirkor Minassian of New York and Paris. The remaining sheets were acquired by the Library's field office in Islamabad, Pakistan, with permission from the Pakistani government to acquire and export calligraphic materials belonging to a Pakistani citizen. The 355 sheets placed online are the vast majority of the Islamic calligraphic items in the Library's collections, housed in the African and Middle Eastern Division. In a forthcoming final update of the Web site another 36 images of material from the 8th through 10th centuries will be added.

Calligraphy was a skill to be mastered, and it was heavily used to express religious sentiment and many other aspects of personal and cultural life. Calligraphic art developed gradually over the centuries and has been the subject of numerous studies analyzing its role in the faith, culture and art of Arabic-, Persian- and Turkish-speaking lands.

A majority of the calligraphy sheets in the collection are written on paper; however, a group of Quranic fragments from the 8th through 10th centuries are inscribed on parchment.
This collection showcases stunning examples of calligraphic art, including illuminated panels, albums and poems. In addition to the individual calligraphy sheets, this presentation contains essays on Ottoman and Persian calligraphic styles, an in-depth look at Quranic calligraphic fragments and an essay discussing some of the Library's notable Arabic script calligraphy sheets and illuminations.

Among the most noteworthy items included in the collection are a page from an 8th century C.E. (first or early second century Islamic era) Koran, and pages from a 17th century Persian dictionary titled "Farhang-i Jahangiri." The former item is written in the Hijazi form of the Arabic script, which is an ancestor of all the modern forms of the Arabic script. This Koran page is also important as an artifact of the earliest Islamic community. Scholars who have viewed pages from the dictionary speculate—based on the great beauty of the calligraphy and illumination—that these may be pages from the royal manuscript that was prepared for the Mughal Emperor Jahangir who reigned from 1605 to 1627.

These beautiful items have been housed in the Near East Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division since they entered the Library's possession. Art historians, historians of the Islamic book and other researchers learned of their existence when they came to Washington to consult with specialists in the Near East Section. The collection of Arabic script calligraphy was truly one of the Library's hidden treasures.

This digitization project began 2002 when Library of Congress management requested proposals for projects focusing on the digital conversion of underutilized collections whose use by researchers would increase by their existence in digital form on Internet. At that time Chris Murphy, the Library's Turkish area specialist, and one of the individuals responsible for the manuscripts held by the Near East Section, proposed that the Arabic script calligraphy collection be given scholarly descriptions, digitized and mounted on the Library's Web site.

This proposal was accepted and in a process lasting almost three years the Web site was created. The Library's Office of Strategic Initiatives engaged Christiane Gruber (currently assistant professor of Islamic art history at Indiana University) to create descriptions of each piece of calligraphy. Murphy worked with the Global Gateway digital team, which handled the technical side of creating the Web site.

Digitization of these materials accomplishes several goals. Hitherto unknown holdings of the Library are presented to the scholarly world. Each item is preserved digitally and the digital surrogate is there to be used by researchers. The actual item will be available only to those individuals whose research requires that they examine the original object. Furthermore, the introductory essays on the Web site give the general public a clear and concise explanation of Islamic calligraphy with an extensive bibliography about the subject.

Many of these pieces of calligraphy come from manuscripts that were disassembled in order to sell pages individually. As a consequence, manuscripts pages were often dispersed among several institutions. The creation of this Library of Congress Web site will, it is hoped, encourage these other institutions to digitize and make available their Islamic treasures. This, in turn, will enable scholars and institutions to use the virtual space of the World Wide Web to reconstruct important and valuable manuscripts that now exist in bits and pieces all around the world.
This online presentation of "Selections of Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Calligraphy" joins other world history collections available on the Library of Congress' Global Gateway Web site at http://international.loc.gov/. This Web site features the extraordinary international collections of the Library of Congress as well as those of its partners from libraries in Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, France and Russia. The presentations for these five nations are bilingual—in both English and the language of the country represented.

The Global Gateway Web site also makes available such rare items as "The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake," "The Lewis Carroll Scrapbook" and "Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection," which documents ceremonial writings of the Naxi people of China, who write using the only living pictographic language in the world.

Photography/ Text © Chris Murphy, Turkish area specialist in the Library's African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress. Published in Library of Congress Information Bulletin, September 2006.

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Seyyid Mehmed Bahir

By Seyid Mehmed Bahir, dated 1279/1862 panel on paper of celi talik script.

Photography/ Text © Auction House Antik A.S.

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Hasan Riza Efendi (b.1849 - d.1920)

Surface by Hasan Riza dated 1330(1911) panel of sülüs nesih script, prophetic saying (Hadith) with Besmele from Tay Collection

Photography/ Text © Auction House Portakal, Istanbul

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Princeton University Library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections

Princeton has the largest collection of Islamic manuscripts in North America and one of the finest such collections in the Western world. The Princeton University Library holds some 11,000 volumes of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish manuscripts. While the world of Islamic learning is the chief emphasis, there are also illuminated Qur’ans, Persian illustrated manuscripts and miniatures, and other examples of Islamic book arts. Among the most famous examples of Persian painting are the 16th-century Peck Shahnamah and Muin Musavvir's 1673 portrait of the Safavid-era painter Riza ‘Abbasi.For published descriptions of manuscripts, see (1) Philip K. Hitti, Nabih Amin Faris, and Butrus ‘Abd al-Malik, Descriptive Catalog of the Garrett Collection of Arabic Manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, Princeton Oriental Texts, vol. 5 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938); (2) Mohammed E. Moghadam and Yahya Armajani, under the supervision of Philip K. Hitti, Descriptive Catalog of the Garrett Collection of Persian, Turkish and Indic Manuscripts Including Some Miniatures, Princeton Oriental Texts, vol. 6 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1939); (3) Rudolf Mach, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts (Yahuda Section) in the Garrett Collection , Princeton University Library, Princeton Studies on the Near East (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977); and (4) Rudolf Mach and Eric L. Ormsby, Handlist of Arabic Manuscripts (New Series) in the Princeton University Library, Princeton Studies on the Near East (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987). These four printed catalogs and the unpublished checklist supersede earlier printed catalogues or descriptions by Enno Littmann (1904), Nicholas N. Martinovich (1926), and Ernest Cushing Richardson and Nabih Amin Faris (1934). Thousands of additional Islamic manuscripts (including most of Princeton’s approximately 2,000 Persian and 900 Ottoman Turkish manuscripts) are described in the Preliminary Checklist of Uncataloged Islamic Manuscripts in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library (2004). For a checklist of a recently acquired collection on Arabic calligraphy, go to William J. Trezise Collection of Arabic Calligraphy. For descriptions and selected digital images of Arabic papyri at Princeton, go to the Princeton University Library Papyrus Home Page. Early printed Islamica in the Rare Books Division may be searched online in the Princeton University Library Main Catalogue. For digital images of 277 Persian miniatures in five illustrated Shahnamah manuscripts, dating from 1544 to 1674, in the Manuscripts Division, go to “The Princeton Shahnama Project” at< http://www.princeton.edu/~shahnama/>The manuscripts include Garrett Islamic MSS. 56G, 57G, 58G, and 59G, which were the gift of Robert Garrett, Class of 1897; and the “Peck Shahnamah” (Islamic Manuscripts, Third Series, no. 310), which was bequeathed to Princeton in 1983 by Clara S. Peck, the sister of Fremont C. Peck, Class of 1920.

Contact

Princeton University Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
Email: rbsc@princeton.edu
Tel: (609) 258-3184
Fax: (609) 258-2324

Photography/ Text © http://library.princeton.edu/

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.