Derviş Ali (Ottoman Turkish: دروش على Modern Turkish: Derviş Ali) (d. 1673) was a 17th-century Ottoman calligrapher.

Album leaf with a calligraphic composition by Derviş Ali. Chester Beatty Library
Calligraphic work with a hadith. McGill University Library

Life and work

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His is known as Derviş Ali, the elder or by the nicknames Büyük, Birinci or ayırt Mâruf (to distinguish him from the two different calligraphers of the same name, who lived at a later time).[1]

Very little is known about his early life. His date of birth is unknown. He was raised as a slave in the household of a Janissary officer by the name of Kara Hasan-oglu Huseyn Aga. As a young man, he served as a subaltern with the Janissaries. He later trained as a calligrapher with Halid Erzurumi (d. 1651).[2]

He worked in the Köprülü Library, where he trained many calligraphers, of whom the most famous were the Grand Vizier, Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha,[3] Hâfiz Osman[4] and Suyolcuzade Mustafa Eyyubi[5] Another of his students was Ismail Efendi, who executed the tomb of Hâfiz Osman and also produced 44 copies of the Q'ran.[6]

He died at an advanced age in 1673,[7] and was buried outside Topkapı (ancient gate of Saint-Romain).[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Islam Encyclopedia, Online:
  2. ^ Bayani, M., The Decorated Word: Qurʼans of the 17th to 19th Centuries, Volume 4, Part 1, Nour Foundation, 1999, p. 77
  3. ^ Bayani, M., The Decorated Word: Qurʼans of the 17th to 19th Centuries, Volume 4, Part 1, Nour Foundation, 1999, p. 77
  4. ^ Suarez, M.F. and Woudhuysen, H.R. (eds), The Oxford companion to the Book, Volume 1, Oxford University Press, p. 776
  5. ^ Pickthall, M.W. and Asad, M. (eds), Islamic Culture, Volume 57, Islamic Culture Board, 1983, p.20; M. Uğur Derman, Masterpieces of Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, İstanbul, Sabancı Üniversitesi. pp. 82–83
  6. ^ Roper, G. (ed.), The History of the Book in the Middle East, Routledge, 2017, [e-book edition], n.p.
  7. ^ Derman, Metropolitan Museum of Art. M. Uğur (1998). Letters in gold : Ottoman calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı collection, Istanbul; [in conjunction with the Exhibition Letters in Gold: Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı Collection, Istanbul; held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Sept. 11, 1998 - Dec. 13, 1998; at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Febr. 25, 1999 - May 17, 1999; and at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 9, 1999 - Jan. 2, 2000]. New York: Abrams. p. 64. ISBN 0870998730.
  8. ^ Turkish Biographical Index, Walter de Gruyter, 2011, p. 286; Huart, C., Les Calligraphes et les Miniaturistes de l'Orient Musulman , 1972, p. 146 Digital copy (in French)