Karalamacı Hamdi Efendi

The calligrapher Hamdi Efendi earned the nickname Karalamacı Hamdi, meaning “Hamdi (Ḥamdī) the scribbler,” and signd his works with the epithet. The word karalama means “blackening” and is the Turkish equivalent of the Persian siyah mashq. It refers to calligraphic exercises intended to maintain the calligrapher’s manual dexterity. It was these karalamas for which Hamdi Efendi was most known. He was a student of Hüseyin Hablî Efendi and taught at the Galata Palace School.