An Introduction to Sheyh Hamdallah
Mohamed Zakariya
Sheyh Hamdullah was born around 1436 in the town of Amasya in Ottoman Anatolia, a place famous for its many calligraphers. His father was a sheyh (or sheikh) of the Suhraverdi order, and Hamdullah often called himself “son of the sheyh.” The grand master of the archery lodge, Hamdullah was also a sheyh of the Sufi path. His teachers in calligraphy were trained in the style of writing perfected by Yakut el-Mustasimi of Baghdad, and Hamdullah excelled in these methods and the literature associated with them.
When Prince Beyazid, son of Mehmed the Conquerer, became governor of Amasya, he took calligraphy lessons from Sheyh Hamdullah and received his icazet from him. The two became life-long friends. Beyazid became Sultan Beyazid II in 1481 and, the following year, invited Sheyh Hamdullah to join him in Constantinople (now Istanbul). The sheyh was given a workshop in the Topkapi Palace, where he would write and teach and where the sultan could visit and watch him work. While there, the sheyh designed a good deal of monumental calligraphy around Constantinople, especially in the Beyazid Mosque and precinct, and in other cities.
By this time, however, calligraphy had become rather stodgy and rigid, and the sheyh was inspired to undertake a basic overhaul of the art, top to bottom, using the best examples of Yakut’s original works. He was shortly able to transform the six proportional scripts (sulus, nesih, muhakkak, reyhani, tevki’, and riqa’) into a new and vivacious medium. Using these scripts, he wrote 47 mushafs (Korans) and numerous other works, inscriptions, and murakkaas (albums), at least three of which are in collections in the United States. The sheyh’s sulus (thuluth) script, while magnificent, was still a bit stiff. It was his nesih (naskh), enlivened with vitality, that really took off, becoming the most important script in the Ottoman repertoire.
In addition to calligraphy, the multi-talented Sheyh Hamdullah was a champion archer, swimmer, tailor, and falconer. He was a brilliant maker of arrows and composite bows and taught archery to the best masters of the day. The sheyh lived into his late 80s and died in 1520.
When we look at his work and at other Ottoman calligraphy, we need to be aware that these are normally joint productions, involving many people. The calligraphy is the basis of the piece. But it is the assembly, polishing, gilding, mounting, painting, and sometimes binding or monumental carving and architectural application that finish the work and make an art object.
The known and unknown geniuses of calligraphy who followed the great founding master of Baghdad, Ibnul-Bawwab, paved the road of calligraphy so it could, in the hands of Sheyh Hamdullah, begin to become a true art. The teaching method he developed is the origin of the method we use today. His students went on to teach others, over the generations creating something of a family tree of calligraphic genealogy, a key to study the evolution of the art.
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