Ali Reza Abbasi Tabrizi was a prominent

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

and

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

teacher, who flourished in 16th-17th century

Safavid Iran Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

. He was titled by Abbas I as ''Šāhnavāz Xān''. Abbasi was a master of Naskh and

Thuluth ''Thuluth'' ( ar, ثُلُث, ' or ar, خَطُّ الثُّلُثِ, '; fa, ثلث, ''Sols''; Turkish: ''Sülüs'', from ' "one-third") is a script variety of Islamic calligraphy. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new scr ...

scripts and the initiator of his own style of

Nastaʿlīq ''Nastaliq'' (; fa, , ), also romanized as ''Nastaʿlīq'', is one of the main calligraphic hands used to write the Perso-Arabic script in the Persian and Urdu languages, often used also for Ottoman Turkish poetry, rarely for Arabic. ''Nasta ...

script. Besides he was an expert of various other scripts like

Muhaqqaq Muhaqqaq is one of the main six types of Islamic calligraphy, calligraphic script in Arabic.John F. A. Sawyer, J. M. Y. Simpson, R. E. Asher (eds.), ''Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion'', Elsevier, New York 2001, , p. 253. The Arabic la ...

Reqa ''Reqā ( ar, رِقَاع) is one of the six scripts of Arabic calligraphy. ''Reqa was used for private correspondence on small papers or for nonreligious books and texts. Ibn al-Nadim mentioned in his book Al-Fehrest, that the inventor of ...

, Reyhan, Tevki and Taʿlīq scripts.

Youth

Ali Reza Abbasi started learning calligraphy in

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

as a pupil of

Mohammad Hossein Tabrizi Mohammad Hossein Tabrizi ( fa, محمد حسین تبریزی) was a Persian calligrapher in 16th-century Safavid Iran. Tabrizi learnt calligraphy from the famous Ahmad Mashhadi. He later became a teacher of the equally renowned Mir Emad Hassani. ...

and Ala Beyk. Abbasi obtained an outstanding knowledge of Thuluth and Naskh scripts. After that the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

occupied Tabriz in the era of

Mohammad Khodabanda Mohammad Khodabanda (also spelled Khodabandeh; fa, شاه محمد خدابنده, born 1532; died 1595 or 1596), was the fourth Safavid shah of Iran from 1578 until his overthrow in 1587 by his son Abbas I. Khodabanda had succeeded his brothe ...

, Abbasi left the city and went to

Qazvin Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was a capital of the ...

, the capital of the

Safavid dynasty The Safavid dynasty (; fa, دودمان صفوی, Dudmâne Safavi, ) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of th ...

. He lived there in the

Jameh mosque of Qazvin Jameh Mosque of Qazvin ( fa, مسجد جامع عتيق قزوین – ''Masjid-e-Jameh Atiq Qazvin'') is one of the oldest mosques in Iran, and is the grand, congregational mosque (jameh mosque) of Qazvin, in Qazvin Province, Iran. Specificati ...

. He worked as a calligrapher and completed some parts of

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

s of the mosque and also some

Koran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing.: ...

samples. His works on the Jameh mosque of Qazvin made him famous. In the early years of the reign of Abbas I, he was in Farhad Khan's employ, who was an important

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been u ...

of the Safavids and his rank and dignity was increasing under Abbass I. When Sardar Farhad Khan noticed that Alireza Abbasi was an able artist, he appointed him as his personal companion and took Abbasi as his companion to

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

and Mazandaran.

In the court of Safavids

Alireza Abbasi's fame increased. On the 1st of July 1593 Abbasi became the King's intimate friend and the King instructed some of calligraphers like Mohammad Reza Emami, Mohammad Saleh Esfahani and Abd ol-Baghi Tabrizi to teach Abbasi Thuluth script. He had a son named Badi al-Zaman Tabrizi. Abbasi's death date in unknown, but it is supposed that he died towards the end of Safi's era.

References

{{reflist 1500s births 1600s deaths 16th-century calligraphers of Safavid Iran Calligraphers from Tabriz 17th-century calligraphers of Safavid Iran 16th-century Iranian painters 17th-century Iranian painters