Page with calligraphy

Ottoman calligraphers often demonstrated their skills by writing different styles and sizes of Arabic script on rectangular sheets of paper, which were then illuminated, mounted on pasteboard, and assembled into accordion fold albums, known as muraqqaʿ. This calligraphic panel was composed by Ahmed Karahisari (1469–1556), the most famous Ottoman calligrapher during the reign of Sultan Süleyman I (r. 1520–1566). He was a student of Shaykh Ḥamdullâh (1436–1520) and bestowed with the title, Shams al-Dīn (Sun of Religion). Karahisari modeled his unique style of calligraphy on that of Yāqūt al-Musta‛ṣimī (d. 1298), revered for centuries for reforming the style of "porportioned script" and mastering the "Six Pens," referring to the classical scripts: thuluth, naskh, muhaqqaq, rayhani, tawqi', and riqa'. This calligraphic panel was composed using the thuluth style of script, which Karahisari was famous for refining.