SIGNED SHAH MUHAMMAD AL-MASHHADI, SAFAVID IRAN, DATED AH 968/1560-61 AD

Shah Muhammad al-Mashhadi was a Safavid calligrapher who has been described by Bayani as a student of Malek Daylami, Salim and Shah Mahmud Nishapuri. His was admired as a master of nasta’liq and thuluth. He was also a poet with the pen name Vaseqi. The exact date of his death is uncertain. Although some scholars such as Sepehr have suggested AH 976/1568-69 AD others have disagreed with this date due to the fact that both his teachers, Selim and Shah Mahmud Nishapuri would thus have outlived him. A number of signed works by Shah Muhammad are housed in the Niavaran Palace Library in Tehran formerly known as the Ketabkhaneh Saltanati (Royal Library). For a full inventory of his known works see Bayani, 1358, vol.I, pp.292-295.