Eight Hadiths

Location: Ottoman Turley

Materials: ink, gold and opaque watercolour on paper; mounted on board

Dimensions: 69.3 x 42.2cm

Accession Number: CAL 244

Other Notes:

The panel, with eight hadiths, is signed by Mahmud Jalaluddin (d. 1829), who was unique among 18th- and 19th-century Ottoman calligraphers in being virtually self-taught. He mastered the art by closely studying and copying the work of two previous masters, namely Shaykh Hamdullah al-Amasi and Hafiz ‘Uthman. This is well illustrated in the colophon of this piece, in which he states that he copied it ‘from the hand of ‘Uthman Effendi, who copied it from none other than the Shaykh [Hamdullah] himself.’ This magnificent sample of his work bears witness to his debt to these illustrious predecessors. 

Script:

written in thuluth and tawqi‘ scripts

Bibliography:

N.F. Safwat, The Art of the Pen. Calligraphy of the 14th to 20th Centuries, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume V, London 1996, cat.74, pp.144–6.