Mir Mohsun Navvab
1833–1918 · Shusha
Mir Mohsun Navvab was born in Shusha in 1833 and spent his whole life there; Arabic Wikipedia alone places his death in Baku. He studied at a religious school, where he mastered Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and later learned mathematics, astronomy and chemistry at the madrasa of Abbas Sarijali. He is remembered as the last all-round scholar of the old school in Azerbaijan: poet, painter, music historian, astronomer and mathematician, and a well-known calligrapher in Shusha. He illustrated his own manuscripts with coloured pictures and decorated interiors; until 1992 some of his wall paintings survived in his house, his school and the minarets of the Upper Govhar Agha mosque. He ran a press in Shusha, printed the work of local poets, and founded a literary society and the first music society in Azerbaijan. Of his twenty-odd books, Vuzuh al-arqam (1913) describes 82 mughams, and his tazkira records about a hundred poets of Karabakh. He died in 1918.
Achievements
- Known as a calligrapher of Shusha, where he also painted and decorated buildings (English Wikipedia).
- Ran his own press in Shusha and printed the poems of Karabakh poets for free distribution (English and Persian Wikipedia).
- Founded the literary society Majlis-i Faramushan and the first music society, Majlis-i Khanende (English Wikipedia).
- Wrote more than twenty books, among them Vuzuh al-arqam on 82 mughams and a tazkira of about a hundred Karabakh poets (English Wikipedia).
His work
The Commons files of his work are drawings, paintings and printed books; the one manuscript page labelled as his has no source or signature, so no calligraphy of his could be confirmed.
Write in the tradition this hand shaped.
Open Mashq Studio →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
- English Wikipedia: calligrapher of Shusha, press, societies, books, wall paintings en.wikipedia.org
- Persian Wikipedia: life in Shusha, printing, books fa.wikipedia.org
- Azerbaijani Wikipedia: calls him a xəttat (calligrapher); born and died in Shusha az.wikipedia.org
- Arabic Wikipedia: schooling; gives Baku as place of death 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).