Jafar Tabrizi

Page from the manuscript of Gulshan-i Raz. Library of Astan Quds Razavi Mawlana Farīd al-Dīn Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī Tabrīzī Baysunghurī (fl. 1412–1433), better known as Jaʿfar Tabrīzī , and also as Qeblat al-Kottāb, was an Iranian calligrapher and master of nastaliq script.

Biography Born in Tabriz, according to Dust Muhammad, Ja‛far was trained in the classic six scripts (al-aqlam al-sitta) by Shams al-Din Qattabi, whose line of tutelage went back to ‛Abdallah Sayrafi (d. after 1345/46). His teacher of nastaliq was ‛Abdallah, son of Mir Ali Tabrizi (14th/15th century), traditionally recognized as inventor of this script. After youth in Tabriz Ja‛far moved to Herat, where he served at the court of Shah Rukh (r. 1405-1447) and supervised the scriptorium (kitābkhāna) of prince Baysunghur, thereby gaining the epithet Baysunghuri.

A unique report (Pers. ‛arẓadāsht) from c. 1429 preserved in Topkapı Palace Library (H2153, f.98a) gives us a glimpse into how this royal book atelier functioned. Ja‛far was in charge of forty calligraphers, who were housed in a special building within the palace precinct together with painters. The document is a progress report from Ja‛far to his patron Baysunghur and describes several manuscripts in progress, with informations about the names of the artists (calligraphers, illuminators, frame decorators, binders) involved in each project. According to report calligraphers also designed inscriptions and painters were responsible for decorated saddles, wall paintings and tents.

Works and style First Page of the Baysunghur's Gulistan. Herat, 1426/27. Chester Beatty Library. Copied by Jafar Tabrizi. Jaʿfar Tabrizi personally copied many of the finest illuminated manuscripts made in Herat of his time. His signed and dated works include manuscript of the Divan of Hasan Dihlavi (Tehran, Majlis Library, no. 4017), copied in 1412–13, Kulliyyat of Humam-i Tabrizi (1413), Khosrow and Shirin (1421), Nasāyeh-e Eskandar (1425), Gulistan of Saʿdi (Chester Beatty Library, Per 119) dated 1426/27, celebrated Baysunghuri Shahnameh (Golestan Palace Library, MS. 4752) from 1429/30, copy of Kalila wa Dimna (Topkapı Palace Library, H362) dated 1431, Tarikh-e Isfahan (1431), Khamsa of Nizami (MMA, 1994.232) dated 1431/32, Lama'at of Iraqi (1432), Miscellany (Chester Beatty Library, Per 122), copied in 1431–32, and also Jong-e Marāsī, an elegy upon prince's death in 837/1433.

Ja‛far’s mastery of the six scripts, particularly thuluth, naskh and muhaqqaq, is evident in the specimens of his calligraphy preserved in several albums (e.g. Topkapı Palace Library, H. 2153, fols 27r, 58r, 160v). His smooth nastaliq is typical of early examples of the script in which the individual graphic units are placed at a 30° angle to the horizontal writing line. Both rhythm and spacing are tightly controlled. Controlled, albeit noticeable, variation in the thickness of the stroke also characterizes Jaʿfar’s writing as well as an elongated and slightly curved upper ascending stroke of the kaf letter. These upper strokes of the kaf are often placed at a wider angle than the other diagonal strokes.