Yaqut Al-Musta'simi
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Yaqut al-Musta'simi (Arabic: ياقوت المستعصمي) (died 1298) was a well-known
calligrapher Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...
and secretary of the last Abbasid caliph.


Life and work

He was probably of
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
origin in Amaseia and carried off when he was very young into slavery. Made into a
eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...
, he was converted to Islam as Abu’l-Majd Jamal al-Din Yaqut, better known as Yaqut al-Musta‘simi because he served Caliph al-Musta‘sim, the last
Abbasid caliph The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The family came ...
. He was a slave in the court of al-Musta'sim and went on to become a calligrapher in the Royal Court. He spent most of his life in Baghdad. He studied with the female scholar and calligrapher, Shuhda Bint Al-‘Ibari, who was herself a student in the direct line of Ibn al-Bawwab. During the Mongol invasion of Baghdad (1258), he took refuge in the minaret of a mosque so he could finish his calligraphy practice, while the city was being ransacked. His career, however, flourished under Mongol patronage. Yaqut inspired an elegant depiction of the Mongol ruler
Abaqa Abaqa Khan (27 February 1234 – 4 April 1282, , "paternal uncle", also transliterated Abaġa), was the second Mongol ruler ('' Ilkhan'') of the Ilkhanate. The son of Hulagu Khan and Lady Yesünčin and the grandson of Tolui, he reigned from 1265 ...
's name on the Mongol coinage and continued to serve under the Ilkhan Rinchindorj
Gaykhatu Gaykhatu (Mongolian script:; ) was the fifth Ilkhanate ruler in Iran. He reigned from 1291 to 1295. His Buddhist baghshi gave him the Tibetan name Rinchindorj () which appeared on his paper money. Early life He was born to Abaqa and Nukdan K ...
in the
Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...
. He refined and codified six basic calligraphic styles of the
Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...
.
Naskh script Naskh is a small, round script of Islamic calligraphy. Naskh is one of the first scripts of Islamic calligraphy to develop, commonly used in writing administrative documents and for transcribing books, including the Qur’an, because of its easy ...
was said to have been revealed and taught to the scribe in a vision. He improved on
Ibn Muqla Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muqla (; 885/6 – 20 July 940/1), commonly known as Ibn Muqla, was an official of the Abbasid Caliphate who rose to high state posts in the early 10th century. His career culminated in his own assumption of the v ...
's style by replacing the straight cut reed pen with an oblique cut, which resulted in a more elegant script. He developed ''Yakuti'', a handwriting named after him, described as a
thuluth ''Thuluth'' (, ' or , '; , ''Sols''; Turkish: ''Sülüs'', from ' "one-third") is an Arabic script variety of Islamic calligraphy. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In ''Thuluth'', ...
of "a particularly elegant and beautiful type." He taught many students, both Arab and non-Arab. His most celebrated students are Ahmad al-Suhrawardi and Yahya al-Sufi. He became a much-celebrated calligrapher across the Arab-speaking world. His school became the model followed by Persian and Ottoman calligraphers for centuries. In the second half of the 13th-century, he gained the honorific, ''quiblat al-kuttab'' ynosure of the calligraphers His output was prolific. Although, he is said to have copied the
Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
more than a thousand times, problems with attributing his work, may have contributed to exaggerated estimates. Other sources suggest that he produced 364 copies of the Q'ran.''Islamic Arts'',
Islamic Arts Online (in English):
/ref> File:Two pages of Quran by Yaqut al-Musta'simi.TIEM 507.jpg, Double page of Quran, dated to 1286–1287.
Rayhani script Reyhan or Rayḥānī () is one of the six canonical scripts of Perso-Arabic calligraphy. The word Reyhan means basil in Arabic and Persian. Reyhan is considered a finer variant of Muhaqqaq script, likened to flowers and leaves of basil. Rayḥ ...
.
Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum () is a museum in Sultanahmet Square in Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey which first opened in 1914 and in 1983 moved into the palace of Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, the second grand vizier of Suleiman the Magni ...
File:Two pages from "Divan shu’r al-Hadira" (The collected verses of al-Hadira) by Ya'qut al-Musta'simi.jpg, Two pages from the manuscript of "Divan shu’r al-Hadira" (The collected verses of Al-Hadira). Naskh and
thuluth ''Thuluth'' (, ' or , '; , ''Sols''; Turkish: ''Sülüs'', from ' "one-third") is an Arabic script variety of Islamic calligraphy. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In ''Thuluth'', ...
script.
Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and ...
File:Sayings of Pythagoras, signed by calligrapher Yaqut Al-Musta'simi & painter Mahmud b. Abi'l-Mahasin Al-Qashi, Iraq, late 13th century AD, watercolor, ink, gold - Aga Khan Museum - Toronto, Canada - DSC06335.jpg, Two pages from the manuscript of the 'Spiritual Words from Greek Philosophy with Sayings of the Philosophers Accompanied with their Portraits' (Al-Kalimat al-Ruhaniyya min al-Hikam al-Yunaniyya fi Kalimat al-Hukama’ wa Ashkalihim). Naskh script. Painting by Mahmud b. Abi'l-Mahasin Al-Qashi.
Aga Khan Museum The Aga Khan Museum is a museum of Islamic art located at 77 Wynford Drive in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is dedicated to Islamic art and objects, and it houses approximately 1,200 rare objects assembled by Sh ...
File:Thuluth - Yaqut al-Mustasimi.jpg, Line in thuluth. Part of the pilgrimage guide.
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
File:Calligraphic Album (Muraqqa'at) with Arabic aphorisms written by Yaqut al-Musta‘simi.jpg, Calligraphic album (
Muraqqa A Muraqqa ( , ) is an album in book form containing Islamic miniature paintings and specimens of Islamic calligraphy, normally from several different sources, and perhaps other matter. The album was popular among collectors in the Islami ...
) with arabic aphorisms in
tawqi ''Tawqi‘'' () is a calligraphic variety of the Arabic script. It is a modified and smaller version of the ''thuluth'' script. Both scripts were developed by Ibn Muqlah. The ''tawqi‘'' script was further refined by Ibn al-Bawwab. It was mos ...
script. They were probably originally part of a manuscript and were later cut and arranged in their present form in Iran sometime in the 17th century, when the illumination was added. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:al-Musta'simi, Yaqut 1298 deaths 13th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate Calligraphers of Arabic script Islamic calligraphy Calligraphers from the Abbasid Caliphate Year of birth unknown Muslim artists 13th-century calligraphers Greek slaves Greek Muslims