Mir Emad Hasani (Mir Emad al-Hasani Qazvini)
1554–1615 · Qazvin & Isfahan
Mir Emad al-Hasani was born around 961 AH (1554) in Qazvin to the Sayfi family of Hasani sayyids, who served the Safavid court as librarians and accountants. Later writers say he studied with Isa Beg Rangkar, Malik Daylami and Muhammad Husayn Tabrizi; Encyclopaedia Iranica notes that contemporary sources do not confirm this. He travelled in Ottoman lands, the Hijaz, Aleppo and Baghdad, then worked in the library of the general Farhad Khan Qaramanlu. From about 1599 he lived in Isfahan, where he and Ali Reza Abbasi were the two leading calligraphers at the court of Shah Abbas I. He lost the shah's favour, and on 30 Rajab 1024 (15 August 1615) he was murdered, with the shah's tacit approval. His nastaliq became the model for scribes in Iran, Ottoman Turkey and Mughal India, and his pupils included his nephew Abd al-Rashid Daylami.
Achievements
- One of the two leading calligraphers at the court of Shah Abbas I in Isfahan, from about 1599 to 1615.
- His nastaliq, with smooth lines and balanced letters, became the model in Iran, Ottoman Turkey and Mughal India.
- Copied manuscripts of Hafiz (1594-95) and of Sa'di's Gulistan (1612, 1614), the latter now in Tehran.
- Wrote the Makhzan al-asrar of Haydar Khwarazmi in 1614 with paintings by Reza Abbasi.
- Copied Sultan Ali Mashhadi's verse treatise Sirat al-sutur.
Taught by: Muhammad Husayn Tabrizi, Malik Daylami (Malek Deylami)
Taught: Abd al-Rashid Daylami (Rashida), Nur al-Din Muhammad Lahiji, Abd al-Jabbar Esfahani, Abu Turab Esfahani, Muhammad Saleh Khatunabadi, Goharshad
His work
about 1615 · Art and History Collection
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
1614 · Art and History Collection
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
1611–1612 · Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
early 17th century · Library of Congress, Washington
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC0
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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 Nastaliq piece the store makes: Nastaliq collection.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, K. Eslami, "ʿEMĀD ḤASANĪ, MĪR" (archived copy): dates, training doubts, career, murder, works web.archive.org
- Reed College anthology: teacher, students, burial, forgeries, Ottoman followers reed.edu
- Iranica, "ĀDĀB AL-MAŠQ": treatise attributed to Mir Emad web.archive.org
- en.wikipedia: family, burial by Abu Turab en.wikipedia.org
- fa.wikipedia: names, signatures, travels, rivalry account fa.wikipedia.org
- ar.wikipedia: Arabic name form, 961-1024 AH ar.wikipedia.org
- Wikidata 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).