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Lot Essay
The inscription here is a repeat of ati' allah, 'I obey God' and then wa'l-rasul wa ula al-amr minkum, 'and the Prophet and those charged with authority among you' (which is based on Qur'an IV, sura al-nisa, v.59).
Mehmed Sevki Efendi was taught thuluth, naskh and riqa under the tutorage of his uncle Mehmed Hulsi Efendi. Though his uncle recognised his nephew's greater talent, advising him to seek a more qualified tutor, Sevki refused. The result of this decision was a unique personal style, recognised now as 'the Sevki School'. Principally employed as the Secretariat of the Ministry of War, Sevki Efendi was also a teacher, his pupils including the sons of Sultan Abdulhamid II for two and a half years. Further evidence of his generous nature came after his death, for ledgers discovered at his home showed that he did not benefit from the proceeds of his calligraphy personally, instead using the money to help the poor living in and around the village of his birth. His work is published in M. Ugur Durman, Eternal Letters: From the Abdul Rahman Al Owais Collection of Islamic Calligraphy, Sharjah, Exhibition catalogue, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2009, nos.44a and 44a, pp. 192 - 5, and M. Ugur Derman, Letters in Gold, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1998, nos.40-1, pp.124-7.
Mehmed Sevki Efendi was taught thuluth, naskh and riqa under the tutorage of his uncle Mehmed Hulsi Efendi. Though his uncle recognised his nephew's greater talent, advising him to seek a more qualified tutor, Sevki refused. The result of this decision was a unique personal style, recognised now as 'the Sevki School'. Principally employed as the Secretariat of the Ministry of War, Sevki Efendi was also a teacher, his pupils including the sons of Sultan Abdulhamid II for two and a half years. Further evidence of his generous nature came after his death, for ledgers discovered at his home showed that he did not benefit from the proceeds of his calligraphy personally, instead using the money to help the poor living in and around the village of his birth. His work is published in M. Ugur Durman, Eternal Letters: From the Abdul Rahman Al Owais Collection of Islamic Calligraphy, Sharjah, Exhibition catalogue, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2009, nos.44a and 44a, pp. 192 - 5, and M. Ugur Derman, Letters in Gold, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1998, nos.40-1, pp.124-7.