Calligraphy in Mosul late Ottoman

A. Aljumayle, Amer

doi:10.33899/moss.2009.45657

	Calligraphy in Mosul late Ottoman
مجلة دراسات موصلیة
Article 3, Volume 5, Issue 25, 2009, Pages 33-50 PDF (0 K)
DOI: 10.33899/moss.2009.45657
Author
Amer A. aljumayle
Abstract
The Arabic calligraphy movement in Mosul during the late Ottoman era fluctuated between affecting, getting affected, being inactive or recessive. It was beyond doubt that the Ottoman interest had an impact on the Mosulis’ love of calligraphy due to the fact that Mosul very near to the Ottoman capital which facilitated the transition of civilizational and cultural effects to Mosul in a deeper and quicker way than the other further districts. Nevertheless, it is hard to find any significant artistic or creative work in this demean during the tenth and eleventh centuries A.H. (16th and 17th centuries A.D.) i.e., at the dawn of the Ottoman rule, however, the turning point starts with the local Ottoman rule (the Jalili era), which witnessed a remarkade boom in Arabic calligraphy and the Jalili rulers pattronized the calligraphers and scribes, which has an enormous effect on the rise of a unique calligraphical renaissance that paved the way for the emergence of a number of Mosuli calligrapher like : Khalil bin Omar Khudada Al-Mosuli (died 1163 H.A., 1749 A.D.), and Salih Al-Sa’di Al-Mosuli (died 1245 A.H., 1829 A.D. ) the chain of Mosuli calligraphers did not end with this group at the end of the thirteenth century A.H. there were more and more calligraphers such as : Sheikh Mohammad Amin Al-Omari and Abdurahman Chalabi Al-Sayigh (died 1294 A.H., 1877 A.D.). Towards the end of the thirteen century and the beginning of the fourteenth century A.H., Arabic calligraphy witnessed a slight retreat due to the political situation and developments in the Ottoman state such as the coup of 1908 A.D., the overthrow of Sultan Abdulhameed, and the starvation of Mosul between 1917-1918 A.D. all of these thing had an impact on the standard of calligraphy in the city. Stranger still, the news of Mosul calligraphy in the early decades of that century were very scarce and it can be said that the generation Mosuli calligraphers of that century inherited from the generation that preceded them in imitating the poor stereotypical performance and style of the rules of calligraphy and mastering them. These calligraphers not only put the works down in books and plates, but also on building. If we look at the inscriptions on the walls of Mosuli mosques, schools, houses, graves and carving works on wooden doors and articles, which belong to that era, we shall see the powerful calligraphical accomplishment of these more.

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