There is no information available pertaining to the relationship Ottoman rulers might have had with the field of calligraphy during the first 150 years after the establishment of the Ottoman state. In contrast, the importance Sultan Mehmed II (Fâtih) gave to the fine arts in general and the art of writing in particular is well-attested. Moreover, there survive to this day a number of the books written by the calligraphic genius Şeyh Hamdullah (1429-1520), donated to the sultan’s library by his son Prince Bâyezid, at the time governor of Amasya. Furthermore, inscriptions in celî sülüs made by two calligraphic masters, Yahyâ Sôfî and his son Ali Sôfî, active in Mehmed’s day, were added on a number of monuments erected after the conquest of İstanbul. These works are identified by the signatures of the calligraphers. The first two names asserting the Ottoman dynasty’s close association with the field of calligraphy are those of Sultan Bâyezid II and his son Prince Korkut. Both had been taught by Şeyh Hamdullah in Amasya. After Prince Bâyezîd’s accession to the throne in 1481, Şeyh Hamdullah moved to Istanbul, where he set out to create the most perfect examples of calligraphy in the style of Yâkût. Şeyh Hamdullah himself had learned Yâkût’s style from his master Hayreddîn Mar’aşî. Upon the personal instigation of Sultan Bâyezid, Şeyh Hamdullah was able to create a new original style, elaborating upon examples of Yâkût’s work available in the Imperial Palace (Topkapı)’s treasury. Şeyh Hamdullah succeeded in this important task around the year 1485, after he had undergone a four-month period of mystical seclusion. This accomplishment promoted him to the position of spiritual founder (pîr) of Turkish calligraphy. As a matter of fact, the articulation of the aklâm-i sitte that had until then been predominant was subject to an Abbasid understanding of the style. Even though it is rumoured that Yâkût himself had been a Turk from Amasya, the cultural atmosphere of Baghdad pervaded his work, and he should thus be regarded as representative of the culture of the Arab world. But after Şeyh Hamdullah’s astounding accomplishment, the aklâm-i sitte as practised in the Şeyh’s style prevailed in the Ottoman dominions and drove Yâkût’s style into oblivion.
