The Aesthetics of the Calligraphic Works of Mirza Gholamreza Isfahani

Mirza Gholamreza's status in Persian calligraphy and the artistic quality of his works is well acknowledged both in Iran and abroad. Many of the calligraphic pieces of Mirza Gholamreza (d. 1887) are close in appearance to siahmashq and on the surface can hardly be distinguished from ordinary calligraphic studies, so much so that some critics have come to call him “the siahmashq nevis.” This article is an attempt, to investigate the aesthetics of Mirza Gholamreza's calligraphic art with reference to these so-called siahmashq works. By analyzing some of these works it will be shown that they are not siahmashq, i.e. calligraphic exercises, in the ordinary sense. Far from it, these pieces are perfect examples of high-art, demonstrating Mirza Gholamreza's full understanding as well as ability to use intrinsic plastic features of the nast'aliq form. Mirza's work is therefore the forerunner of what, more than a century later, became a major strain in modern Iranian painting known as naqqashi-khat (script-painting).