Baysunghur (Ghiyath al-Din Baysunghur ibn Shahrukh)
1397–1433 · Herat
Ghiyath al-Din Baysunghur, son of the Timurid ruler Shahrukh and of Gawharshad, was born in Herat in 799 AH (1397) and died near the city in 837 AH (1433). He served his father as provincial governor and in his supreme council, and he was a leading patron of the arts of the book in Herat, where about forty artists and scholars worked for him. He was also a calligrapher. Encyclopaedia Iranica records that he mastered six scripts and that he drew with his own hand the thuluth inscription on the south iwan of the mosque his mother built in Mashhad, before it was transferred to tile. Persian sources name Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Husam as his teacher. The giant muhaqqaq 'Baysunghur Qur'an' is often linked to him, but the attribution is uncertain, and several collections give it to Umar Aqta.
Achievements
- Drew with his own hand the thuluth inscription on the south iwan of the mosque of Gawharshad in Mashhad, which was then transferred to glazed tile (Encyclopaedia Iranica).
- Mastered six scripts, according to Stchoukine as cited by Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- Was patron of the Herat book workshop, staffed by about forty artists and scholars, where Ja'far Baysunghuri copied the Shahnama of 1429–30 (Encyclopaedia Iranica).
- Brought Ja'far Tabrizi and other masters from Tabriz to Herat after 1420.
- A line of riqa' in his hand appears on a practice sheet in the Baysunghur Album (Topkapi H.2152).
Taught by: Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Husam
His work
Herat, 1433–34 (837 AH) · British Library, London (Add MS 7628, f. 410v)
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
- identity wikidata.org
- main source: dates and places, career, master of six scripts, Gawharshad mosque thuluth inscription, uncertain Baysunghur Qur'an attribution, Herat workshop of c. 40, Ja'far Tabrizi iranicaonline.org
- prominent calligrapher, patron; Tabriz artists brought to Herat en.wikipedia.org
- Arabic name, 802–837 AH, thuluth inscription on the Gawharshad mosque iwan in Mashhad ar.wikipedia.org
- teacher Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Husam, muhaqqaq and thuluth, Gawharshad inscription, Baysunghur Qur'an holdings and a Qur'an with a forged signature fa.wikipedia.org
- Baysunghur Album practice sheet, riqa' copied by Baysunghur commons.wikimedia.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).