ONE SIGNED MUHAMMAD AS'AD AL-YASARI (YESARI MEHMET ES'AD EFENDI) AND DATED AH 1212/1797-8 AD, TURKEY AND POSSIBLY IRAN, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

Yesari Es'ad (d. 1798 AD) was a scribe of nasta'liq. The name Yesari derives from the fact that he was left handed. In fact he was also paralyzed on the right side and afflicted with tremors on the left, making his talent for calligraphy, and in particular the tal'iq script, even more notable. He received his diploma (ijaza) from Dedezadeh Mehmed Sa'id Efendi in 1754. He wrote the inscription of a panel in the mihrab of the Hagia Sophia. His other recorded works are calligraphic pages, one dated AH 1193/1779-80 AD which he copied from Mir 'Imad (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, Vol. III, Tehran, 1348 sh., p. 633). His style so closely follows that of Mir 'Imad that he was sometimes known as 'Imad-i Rum (The 'Imad of Anatolia). Yesari Es'ad was appointed calligraphy instructor at the Imperial Palace by Sultan Mustafa III (r. 1789-1807). He was particularly renowned for calligraphic panels intended for albums such as the present quatrain (Sheila Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, London, 2006, p.516).

A muraqqa album by Yesari is in the Sakip Sabanci Collection (M. Ugur Derman, Letters in Gold, New York, 1998, no. 28, pp. 100-01). Another muraqqa album sold in Christie's, King Street rooms, 6 October 2009, lot 86.

Al-Sayyid Yahya Ihya (d. 1813) whose name appears in the signature of this panel was a calligrapher who studied with Yesari Es'ad and to whom he gave his license in 1797. He was one of his most prominent students. This is one of the last panels written by Yesari Es'ad since he died in 1798.