SIGNED MUHAMMAD SHAFI', QAJAR IRAN, FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY

Muhammad Shafi' known as Visal Shirazi, (1782-1846) is considered one of the most famous calligraphers, scholars and poets of the 19th century. He is praised by different biographers for his knowledge of music, singing, mathematics, painting, occult sciences and grammar. He wrote all seven styles, and in different colour inks, and illuminated, and painted manuscripts himself. Visal trained many in shikasteh and nasta'liq scripts, though his Nayrizi-style naskh script was particularly treasured. It is recorded that he copied 67 Qur'ans, 700 prayer books and divans of various poets (Mehdi Bayani, ahval va asar-e khosh-nevisan, vols. III, Tehran 1348 , pp. 755-62; IV, 1358 sh., pp. 165-67; and Bayani, et al, The Decorated Word, part two, N.D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London 2009 , p. 72).