SIGNED GHULAM REZA, QAJAR IRAN, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY

Ghulam Reza Isfahani (d.1886-87) was one of the most celebrated calligraphers of the Qajar period. His father moved to Tehran from Isfahan, and named his son after the Imam Reza to whom he prayed for a son during a pilgrimage to Mashhad. As an adolescent, Ghulam Reza's skill as a calligrapher became widely known and he came to the attention of Muhammad Shah Qajar (r.1834-48) by whom he was appointed tutor to the princes. After Muhammad Shah's death, he was cordial with Nasir al-Din Shah, but after jealous rivals accused him of being a heretic, he was sentenced to death. The Shah was however persuaded, by a courtier Dust Muhammad Khan Mu'ayyir al-Mamalik, to spare him. Ghulam Reza left a large number of album pages, dated between AH 1260/1844-45 AD and AH 1339/1920-21 AD. There is a copy of the Tuhfat al-Wuzara' dated AH 1259/1843-44 AD in the Royal Library, Tehran, that is copied by him (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, Tehran 1346 sh., vol. 2, pp. 550-556).