Mirza Mohammed Riza Kalhur

Mirza Mohammed Riza Kalhur was born in 1829 in Kermanshah . He is considered one of the most prominent Persian calligraphers of the 19th century, and he is often compared with such great masters as the Nasta'lik, Mir 'Ali Haravi (died in 1544) and Mir' Imad Saifi Qazvini (1554 - 1615) . Appearing in the light in the Kurdish tribe of Kalhur, he had to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was the head of cavalry, following tradition, so Mirza Mohammed Reese spent his young years in improving his skills in the art of horse riding and shooting. However, he began to show interest in calligraphy and began to train under the guidance of Mirza Muhammad Khansari in Tehran, but then he decided to study the works of the best master Nasta'lika Mira 'Imad Hasani and went to Qazvin and then to Isfahan , where the calligrapher could copy the originals works of calligrapher, for example, the inscription from the tomb of the famous philosopher and mystic World of Findarasky (died in 1640). ^[1] ; ^{[2] The} spread glory of Muhammad-Riza attracted the attention of Nasir ad-Din Shah, who invited him to the court to be a teacher, and then offered him a post in the Ministry of Press, headed by Mohammed Hasan-Khan E'timad Al-Saltan. But Kalhur rejected this proposal due to limited financial resources, and instead decided to earn a living by private orders, only in special cases helping in the Ministry. This time allowed him to improve his skills and train young calligraphers. In 1883 he was invited to join the Shah formation for a trip to Khorasan . Kalhur, being a devout Shi'ite, saw this trip as an opportunity to visit the shrines in Mashhad. During this trip, which lasted from June to October 1883, he rewrote twelve issues of the Urdu-yi Humayun newspaper ("The Most August Rate") by calligraphic Nasta'lik (H. Faza'ili calls it "Vakay'e-yi Urdu-yi Humayun "(" Events of the August Stake ")), which was printed in a lithographic manner and freely distributed throughout the Shah's retinue. These his works are considered the best example of calligraphy. ^[1] ; ^[3] Kalhur also created a huge number of unsigned siyahmash sheets. His striving for excellence in this art made him sit for hours and sometimes sleepless nights in practice. He used the sheets to such an extent, training that the color of the paper became indistinguishable. ^[3] Kalkhur spent only six hours a day on food, sleep, and prayers, while he devoted the rest of the time to perfecting his calligraphy and teaching students. ^[four]

Kalhur died during a cholera epidemic in Tehran in August 1892 at the age of sixty-five and was buried in Hasanabad cemetery, which eventually disappeared, and the fire station is now in its place. ^[5] ; ^[3] He had nine children, six of whom died during his lifetime.

Mirza Mohammed Riza Kalhur, being dissatisfied with his work, destroyed many of them. And although his most important calligraphic work is dated 1866 and currently stored in the library of the Palace Golestan the list of the work “Faiz ad-dumu '” (“Abundance of tears”) about the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, written by Muhammad-Ibrahim Navvab Tikhrani. ^[6] ; ^[7] Kalhur is known for its beautiful siyahmashkami. The collection, consisting of eighty-three specimens, recently published by the Center for the Arts in Tehran, contains a wide variety of his works: from careful copies of Mir 'Imad's quatrains and skillful pages from literary works created by Kalkhur’s own compressed nastarik to almost abstractionist compositions in which the calligrapher covered the entire surface of the sheet with ink. ^[eight]

Kalhur was an innovator. Apart from the fact that he, as a lithographer, created a number of innovations that had a great influence on the nasta'lik handwriting in the second half of the XIX century, the master of writing also invented his own method of teaching calligraphy. Traditionally, it included copying, repeating first individual letters of the alphabet, then words and whole sentences of outstanding masters until the calligrapher received permission to teach others. Kalhur did not like this long process, and he decided that he would teach in such a way that the students' interest was maintained and their artistic consciousness was maintained. The calligrapher wrote a whole phrase on a piece of paper, which, he believed, his students had to cope with and forced them to copy it, while at the same time practicing individual letters and words on the same sheet. ^[9] In addition, Calhur also introduced new methods of sharpening Kalam in order to facilitate the ease and speed of writing with ink. He used a sharp hunting knife for sharpening reed kalam, cutting off only the tip, not the main part.

He shortened the point of the tip of the kalam, placing the villi there so that the ink could flow more smoothly. And before the metal pen was invented, he also created the metal tip of kalam. His idea was exported abroad, and after some time the samples returned to Iran. ^[ten]

The inventions of Kalkhur are evidence of the innovative spirit of the 19th century Persian calligraphers, who, working within the framework of traditional canons, often allowed themselves a little freedom, creating something new. ^[3]

• Phase'ili H. Atlas-i Hutt: Tahkik dar Hut-i Islami. (Atlas of [different kinds] letters:

The study of Islamic handwriting). - Tehran: Intisharat-and sad va sinama-yi Jumhuri-yi Islam-yi Iran, 2012. - 712 p.

• Eslami K. Mir 'Emad Hasani,' Emad-al-Molk. / K. Eslami // Encyclopaedia

Iranica. - 2012. - Access mode: http: //www.iranica (inaccessible link) online.org/articles/emad-hasani-mir

• Ekhtiar M. Mirza Mohammad-Reza Kalhor / M. Ekhtiar // Encyclopaedia Iranica. - 2006. - Access Mode: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kalhor-mirzamohammad-reza (not available link)
• Blair sh. Islamic calligraphy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007. - p. 720.

• Hassan Ali Khan Garrusi