SIGNED SAYYID HUSAYN AL-HAMDI IBN 'ALI EFENDI, OTTOMAN TURKEY, DATED AH 1219/1804-5 AD

Huseyn Hamdi is recorded as a pupil of the Ottoman court calligrapher Ismail Zuhdi, (Sevket Rado, Turk Hattatlari, Istanbul, 1984, p.293). Isma'il Zuhdi (who carries the honorific Reis al-Khattatin, Head of the Calligraphers) was a teacher of calligraphy at the Topkapi Palace, and the principle teacher and older brother of the celebrated Ottoman calligrapher Mustafa Raqim Effendi. Four calligraphic panels by Isma'il Zuhdi are in the Sabanci collection in Istanbul; further examples can be found in the Topkapi Saray Museum, and in the Museum of Islamic Calligraphy in Istanbul (Abdulkadir Karahan, Sabanci Hat Kolleksiyonu - The Sabanci Collection of Calligraphy, Istanbul 1985, plate 15).