THE CALLIGRAPHY WITH NAME OF YAQUT AL-MUSTA'SIMI, BAGHDAD SCHOOL, LATE 13TH OR EARLY 14TH CENTURY, THE ILLUMINATION SAFAVID IRAN OR MUGHAL INDIA, LATE 16TH CENTURY
 
This manuscript is an extremely fine and rare survival of late 13th century calligraphy – exemplifying the Baghdad school of calligraphy which flourished under the pen of the master scribe Yaqut al-Musta’simi.

Yaqut al-Musta'simi is without doubt the most celebrated calligrapher in the history of Islamic art and one of its founding figures. In the 700 years since his lifetime his works have been highly coveted and prized by the collectors who owned them. As Yaqut's reputation developed, manuscripts in his hand became collectors' items - rich and often famous patrons added lavish illumination to manuscripts attributed to him - Shah Tahmasp reworked the illumination of a Qur'an manuscript endowed to the dynastic shrine at Ardabil and Sultan Suleyman and his vizier Rustam Pasha commissioned the refurbishment of a number of Yaqut manuscripts including one in the Topkapi (Lings and Safadi, The Qur'an, no.47, p.247 and Atil, 1987, no.13, p.54).

Yaqut is celebrated for his mastery of the 'Six Pens' - the 16th century biographer Qadi Ahmad writes that Yaqut was a master calligrapher, able to use different scripts for text and display. Amongst the manuscripts that are attributed to Yaqut there are examples in naskh, muhaqqaq and rayhan. He is also famed for developing a new style of naskh by trimming his nib in a particular manner and for reforming and enhancing the thuluth script. Both of these are used in the manuscript offered here. Qadi Ahmad describes Yaqut's reforms as follows, "In the art of writing he followed the tradition of Ibn Bawwab but in the trimming of the qalam and in the clipping of its nib he altered the manner of the earlier masters: 'Cut the qalam so that its point be long, and leave it thick; cut the end of the qalam at an angle'. Thus he altered both the rule and the writing. For this reason his writing is preferred to that of Ibn Bawab for its fineness and elegance in these styles of writing Yaqut showed solidity, beauty and clarity - none better than he has ever been found. He wrote in these six styles of writing with extreme elegance and beauty" (Minorsky (trans.), 1959, pp.57-58).

Yaqut's hand is notoriously difficult to judge. The first problem is the contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous textual descriptions are both brief and filled with florid metaphors. Blair cites an example given in an album preface prepared in AH 951/1544 AD, where Dust Muhammad credits Yaqut with perfecting naskh developed by Ibn Muqla (Blair, 2007, p.242). In his words Yaqut 'laid down the rules for the script and brought down the cryptic regulations of this science from heaven to earth. Without the least hint of extravagance, it may be said that he caused his musk-scented pen to skim through the current of scripts in such a way that the pen's tongue and the two-tonged pen are incapable of describing it' (Thackston, 2001, p.7).

It is equally difficult to judge by the script itself. His reputation means that many calligraphic specimens carry his signature - authentic and otherwise. Even between manuscripts generally accepted as being genuine – which are mostly Qur’ans – there are stylistic differences; see for instance two Qur'ans in naskh - one in the Topkapi, dated AH 693/1294 AD and the other in Paris, dated AH 688/1289 AD (Lings, 1976, pl.27 and Splendeur et Majesté, Paris, 1987, no.29, pp.62-62). In his work, The Master Scribes, James lists the accepted and attributed Qur'ans by Yaqut (James, 1992, p.59). These include examples in: Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Library, dated 1271 (MS.EH76); Tehran, Museum of Ancient Iran, dated 1286 (MS.4277); Mashhad, Astan-i Quds Library, dated 1287 (MS.120); Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, dated 1289 (MS.arab.6716); Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Library, dated 1294 (MS.EH74).

Manuscripts accepted to be by Yaqut are extremely few and far between. Only one Qur'an, cautiously attributed, has recently been sold at auction - Sotheby's, London, 24 October 2007, lot 19. It is tempting to think that this compilation was produced by one of his outstanding pupils under his supervision. It is noted that Yaqut was an adib, a poet and great connoisseur of Arabic and such a manuscript would certainly have appealed to the master calligrapher (Ben-Azzouna, 2007, p. 115).