£1,875
Asian & Islamic Works of Art | 600
Auction: 13 May 2020 at 11:00 BST
Ottoman manuscript on paper, comprising an upper register in large muhaqqaq, nine lines of diagonal naskh beneath, the inscription includes the reading ‘The calligrapher hand is blessed with the Divine’, ruled in red and gold, mounted and framed
Note: Shanizade Mehmed Ataullah (d.1826) was a renowned scientist in the early nineteenth century. He was born in Istanbul in 1771, and after having completed his studies in the madrasa, including Arabic and Persian, he joined the Suleymaniye Medical School in 1786. This calligraphic panel dates to the last years in the Madrasa, just before the start of his medical career.
A prolific author and translator, among Ataullah's most famous works are a five-volume work on medicine, entitled Hamse-i Shanizade, and a three-volume translation from French of Charles Bossut’s mathematical theories. He practised calligraphy under the supervision of calligrapher Isma'il Zuhdi Efendi and Yesari Esad Efendi.