Mirza Abu'l-Qasim Farhang Shirazi
1826–1891 · Shiraz
Mirza Abu'l-Qasim, who took the pen name Farhang, was the fourth son of the poet and calligrapher Vesal Shirazi. He was born in Shiraz in 1242 AH (1826) and died there in 1309 AH (1891). He learned calligraphy and letters from his father and from his elder brother Ahmad Vaqar, and Persian Wikipedia, drawing on Fazaeli's Atlas-e khatt, names thuluth and ta'liq as the scripts in which he made his name. He also studied mathematics, the occult sciences and French. A signed marriage contract of 1874, written in a careful naskh-style hand under an illuminated headpiece, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Encyclopaedia Iranica notes that one picture in the Shahnameh copied by his brother Davari is his work. Like his brothers he was a poet: he left a divan in Persian and Arabic of about ten thousand verses, a trilingual dictionary, translations from Arabic, a commentary on Vatvat's Hada'iq al-sihr and a history of the Vesal family.
Achievements
- Known for thuluth and ta'liq, following his father's manner (Persian Wikipedia, after Fazaeli's Atlas-e khatt).
- Wrote and decorated a marriage contract dated 1291 AH (1874), now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met 1979.518.5).
- Painted one of the pictures in the Shahnameh copied by his brother Davari (Iranica).
- Left a Persian and Arabic divan of about ten thousand verses and a Persian–Arabic–Turkish dictionary, the Farhang-e Farhang (fa Wikipedia).
Taught by: Vesal Shirazi, Ahmad Vaqar
His work
1291 AH (1874) · Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
This marriage contract is the only work of his found in an open collection.
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) — or every Thuluth piece the store makes: Thuluth collection.
Sources
- Persian Wikipedia: dates, teachers, thuluth and ta'liq, works fa.wikipedia.org
- Arabic Wikipedia: dates, teachers, writings ar.wikipedia.org
- Met 1979.518.5, Marriage Contract by Abu'l Qasim Farhang ibn Vesal, dated 1291 AH/1874 metmuseum.org
- Encyclopaedia Iranica: one picture in the Davari Shahnameh is by Farhang web.archive.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).