SAFAVID IRAN, 16TH CENTURY AND LATER

The outer border of one of the panels included in this lot bears the name Shah Muhammad Mashahdi, and the date AH 960, which was possibly added later. Shah Muhammad 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 Kitabkhaneh Sultanati (Royal Library). For a full inventory of his known works see Bayani, 1358, vol.I, pp.292-295.