Persian calligrapher and master of nastaliq script
Sultan ‛Ali Mashhadi,
Persian: سلطانعلی مشهدی (full name: Sultan Ali-i Muhammad-i Mashhadi) (
fl 1453–1519, d. 1520) was a
Persian calligrapher and master of
nastaliq script.
Born in
Mashhad, Sultan ‛Ali lost his father when he was seven and that early on in life he began practicing calligraphy on his own. He was autodidact till he moved to
Herat somewhere around the year 1468. There he was trained by
Azhar, or by one of Azhar’s students. From 1470 Sultan ‛Ali worked for the major bibliophiles of the time,
Sultan Husayn (1469-1506) and his boon companion
‛Alishir Nava’i. He designed architectural inscriptions, such as the one (1477–8) on the marble platform for the tombstones of Sultan Husayn’s ancestors erected in the
Shrine of Khwaja Abd Allah. He also calligraphed some of the finest Persian and Turkish manuscripts produced for the
Timurid court, such as a copy of
Sa‛di’sGulistan (1486;
Art and History Collection, LTS1995.2.30), copy of
‛Attar’sMantiq al-tayr (1487;
Met., 63.210) and a copy of Sa‛di’s Bustan (1488;
Egyptian N. Lib., Adab Farsi 908). After death of Sultan Husayn in 1506 and overthrow of the Timurid dynasty Sultan ‛Ali retired to Mashhad. There in 1514 he wrote Adab-i Khatt (“Etiquette of Calligraphy”), a verse treatise in Persian on writing and teaching calligraphy, which was later incorporated in
Qazi Ahmad's biography of calligraphers and painters. This work contains both practical and autobiographical information and shows the close association between religious discipline and the practice of calligraphy. He died in Mashhad.[2][3][4]
Compared to the hand of his predecessor
Jafar Tabrizi (
fl. 1412–1431), Sultan ‛Ali's is more spacious, delicate and fluid. He shows a mastery of control and modulation, introducing visual rhythms by elongating and emphasizing certain forms, like the stroke on letter
kaph. Nastaliq of Sultan ‛Ali "demonstrates a fine balance between fluidity and discipline, the same characteristics that he mentioned in his treatise on calligraphy".[5] In his writings the eastern, or Khurasani, style of nastaliq, associated with Jafar and Azhar, reached its classic form, and in
Safavid period also became the predominant in western Iran.[2][6][7] "The eastern style, as further perfected in the following centuries, is the nastaliq now in use in Persia".[7] Because of this nastaliq of Sultan ‛Ali "remained the epitome of the style, assidously collected and treasured by later connoiseurs and emulated by his successors for centuries to come".[8]Qazi Ahmad wrote about Sultan ‛Ali that "His writing conquered the world and is among other writings as the sun among other planets".[9] Sultan ‛Ali trained many great calligraphers of the 16th century, like
Sultan Muhammad Nur or
Sultan Muhammad Khandan.[2]
Detached
folio from a Gulistan by
Sa‛di. Herat, 1468. Sometime during the early 16th century, the margins of its first sixteen folios were lavishly illuminated. The exquisite design have been attributed to
Aqa Mirak (fl 1520-1575).[10]Freer Gallery of Art
Calligraphic composition with verses from
‘Arefi Heravi's (d. 1438) Guy-u-Chugan. Herat, 1470. Library of the
Golestan Palace
Page from the
Gulshan Album with a poem composed and written by Sultan ‛Ali (illumination from the early 17th century). Herat, 1499. Library of the Golestan Palace