İsmail Hakkı Altunbezer
1873–1946 · Istanbul
İsmail Hakkı Altunbezer was born in Kuruçeşme, Istanbul, on 8 February 1873, into a family whose men had been calligraphers for five generations. His father, Mehmed İlmî Efendi, taught him thuluth and naskh. While studying painting at the Sanâyi-i Nefîse school he entered the Imperial Chancery, where Sâmi Efendi taught him to draw the tughra and to write diwani, jali diwani and jali thuluth; he became the chancery's first tughra-writer. He taught tughra and jali thuluth at the Medresetü'l-Hattâtîn and, after the 1928 alphabet change, taught illumination, from 1936 at the Academy of Fine Arts. His surname refers to his gilding work. His jali thuluth fills the domes of several Istanbul mosques, among them Şemsi Paşa and Zeyneb Sultan. He also wrote the belt inscription of the last Ottoman-period Kaaba cover and designed the first seal of the Turkish presidency. He died in Istanbul on 19 July 1946.
Achievements
- Rose from second to first tughra-writer (tuğrakeş) of the Imperial Chancery (Dîvân-ı Hümâyun).
- Taught tughra and jali thuluth at the Medresetü'l-Hattâtîn.
- Taught illumination at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1936 to 1945.
- Wrote the dome inscriptions of the Selimiye (Üsküdar), Zeyneb Sultan, Abdi Çelebi and Şemsi Paşa mosques in Istanbul.
- Wrote the belt inscription of the last Kaaba cover of the Ottoman period.
- Designed the first seal of the presidency of the Turkish Republic.
Taught by: Mehmed İlmî Efendi, his father, Sami Efendi
Taught: Mustafa Halim Özyazıcı, Macit Ayral (Majid Bey Zuhdi), Necmeddin Okyay, Hamid Aytaç
His work
20th century · Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Istanbul
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
These are the works in open collections that can be attributed with certainty.
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
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 'ALTUNBEZER, İsmail Hakkı' by M. Uğur Derman (1989): birth 8 Feb 1873 Kuruçeşme, teachers, posts, works, death 19 Jul 1946, students islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- Turkish Wikipedia: 1873 on the gravestone vs 1869 in some sources; posts; mosques; gravestone written by Okyay in 1957 tr.wikipedia.org
- Arabic Wikipedia: Arabic name form; gives 1289–1365 AH / 1880–1945 ar.wikipedia.org
- Wikidata: SSM levha 130-0246 with creator Altunbezer wikidata.org
- Wikidata item wikidata.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).