Abd al-Hayy Munshi Astarabadi
d. 1501 · Astarabad & Tabriz
Abd al-Hayy Munshi Astarabadi was one of the best-known calligraphers of the late 15th century, famous above all for ta'liq, the hanging chancery script; some writers even name him as its inventor. He was a pupil of Ja'far Tabrizi, also known as Ja'far Baysunghuri, the head of the Timurid princes' library. His career was in the chancery. He served as munshi, or secretary, at the court of the Timurid Sultan Abu Sa'id, and for a time he did the same work for the Aq Qoyunlu rulers Uzun Hasan and Sultan Ya'qub in Tabriz. Several of his pieces survive in the Topkapı Palace Library in Istanbul, most in ta'liq and some in tawqi, and one of them is dated 870 AH. His pupils included Hajji Ali Munshi Astarabadi, Khwaja Khan Tughra'i Qazvini, Shaykh Muhammad Tamimi and Mir Muhammad Munshi Qumi. He died in Tabriz in 907 AH (1501-02) and was buried in a tomb that took his name, the Abd al-Hayya.
Achievements
- Became famous for the ta'liq script, and some writers regard him as its inventor.
- Was chancery secretary (munshi) to the Timurid Sultan Abu Sa'id, and later worked in the chanceries of Uzun Hasan and Sultan Ya'qub of the Aq Qoyunlu.
- Several of his pieces are in the Topkapı Palace Library, mostly in ta'liq and some in tawqi; one is dated 870 AH.
Taught by: Ja'far Tabrizi
Taught: Hajji Ali Munshi Astarabadi, Khwaja Khan Tughra'i Qazvini, Shaykh Muhammad Tamimi, Mir Muhammad Munshi Qumi
His work
No work securely his is on Commons; an encomium to Sultan Ya'qub there is signed 'Abd al-Hayy ibn Hafiz Shaykh Muhammad al-Bukhari', which may be a different man, so it was left out.
Write in the tradition this hand shaped.
Write in this tradition now →Living calligraphers you can buy from — signed originals on paper, from AED 550: Anwar Alhulwani (Thuluth) · Ahmed Alhawary (Jali Thuluth, Naskh) · Rasha Kasim (Kufi).
Sources
- Persian Wikipedia (after Fazaeli, Atlas-i khatt p. 407, and Dehkhoda/Habib al-siyar): career, ta'liq, teacher, students, Topkapı pieces, death 907 fa.wikipedia.org
- Arabic Wikipedia: same facts (machine-translated in places) ar.wikipedia.org
Written by the MASHQ studio · last updated 2026-10-05. Further reading, the standard references in English: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy (Edinburgh University Press, 2006) · Annemarie Schimmel, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture (New York University Press, 1984) · Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy (Thames and Hudson, 1978).