Zia al-Saltaneh (Shah Begum)
1799–1873 · Karbala
Shah Begum, known by the title Zia al-Saltaneh, 'light of the realm', was the seventh daughter of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar and was raised by the shah's mother. Encyclopaedia Iranica places her life between 1799 and 1873; Persian Wikipedia gives 1214 to 1290 AH, which agrees, while Wikidata's death year of 1893 does not. Her father made her his private secretary: his confidential letters were written in her hand, and she controlled the sealing of the decrees of the royal household. Iranica says that, among her many skills, calligraphy was the one in which she excelled. She first learned from her brother Mahmud Mirza and later from Mirza Abbas Nuri. She copied several Qur'ans, one of which is in the shrine museum at Qom, together with books of prayers and pilgrimage texts, and court histories praise her naskh. She was also a poet. In 1835 her nephew Mohammad Shah made her marry the foreign minister Mirza Masud Ansari. In later years she lived near the shrines of Iraq, and she died in 1873 and was buried in her house at Karbala.
Achievements
- Served as private secretary to her father Fath-Ali Shah; his personal letters were written in her hand (Iranica).
- Kept the signing and sealing of the decrees issued from the royal household (Iranica).
- Copied several Qur'ans; one is kept in the museum of the holy shrine at Qom (Iranica).
- Copied books of prayers and pilgrimage texts, and wrote naskh with distinction (Persian Wikipedia, after Tarikh-e Azodi).
Taught by: Mahmud Mirza, Mirza Abbas Nuri (Mirza Buzurg)
Her work
No photograph of a Qur'an or other work in her hand is on Wikimedia Commons or another 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 Naskh piece the store makes: Naskh collection.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, ŻIĀʾ-AL-SALṬANA (D. Brookshaw): dates, secretary role, teachers, Qur'ans, Qom copy, marriage, burial web.archive.org
- Persian Wikipedia: 1214–1290 AH; quotes Tarikh-e Azodi on her naskh, Qur'ans and prayer books fa.wikipedia.org
- English Wikipedia: overview, death at Karbala en.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).