Hasan Rıza Efendi

Hacı Hasan Rıza Efendi (1849 – 1 March 1920) was an Ottoman calligrapher famed above all for his Ayet Berkenar mushaf, the Qur'an copy whose pages each end at the end of a verse. He wrote nineteen mushafs whose printed editions spread across the Muslim world, copied Sahih al-Bukhari in eight volumes for Sultan Mehmed V (Reşad), and from 1914 taught thuluth, naskh and reyhani at the Medresetü'l-Hattatin, the School of Calligraphers, until his eyesight failed. ^{1 2}

His death date is given by both text sources as 10 Jumada al-Akhira 1338; the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi entry converts it to 1 March 1920 and the Arabic Wikipedia article to 2 March 1920. This record follows the TDV conversion, with the variant stated. ^{2 1}

He was born at Üsküdar, Istanbul, in 1849 (1265 AH). His father, Ahmed Nazif Efendi, had been post director at Tırnova and was an official (kilercisi) in the household of Grand Vizier Mustafa Reşid Pasha. Hasan Rıza was drawn to calligraphy from his first school years and studied under several teachers, among them the great calligrapher Yahya Hilmi Efendi. When his father was reappointed post director the family moved to Tırnova; after their return to Istanbul in 1865 and his father's death, an uncle who served as door-keeper to the Valide Sultan Pertevniyal had him enrolled in the Muzıka-yi Hümâyun, the imperial band. ^{2 1}

There he studied calligraphy under the band's teacher Mehmed Şefik Bey and received his licence (icazet) together with sixteen classmates; Şefik Bey also arranged for him to benefit from Kazasker Mustafa İzzet Efendi. He learned the ta'liq script from Sami Efendi. In 1871 he was appointed imam of the imperial band, and in 1876 he performed the hajj. When Şefik Bey was retired because of his closeness to the deposed Sultan Murad V, Hasan Rıza succeeded him in 1879 as the band's calligraphy teacher, and he continued in the imamate as well. ^{2 1}

The years 1878–1912 were his most productive. His mastery was greatest in naskh: the nineteen mushafs he wrote in various sizes — two of them in juz' parts for a full recitation cycle — are praised for the beauty of their letters, their easy readability and the exact placing of their vowel marks, and their printed editions spread across the Muslim world. At the wish of Sultan Reşad he copied Sahih al-Bukhari in eight volumes (1,067 folios), now in the Topkapi Palace Museum Library, and at the end of his career stands the mushaf of 1330 (1912) written for Sultan Reşad's tomb. He also completed, in 1893, a half-finished mushaf of his relative the calligrapher Mehmed Şevki Efendi. ²

His very large hilye panels are held in the Istanbul Museum of Turkish Calligraphy Arts, the Bâlâ Mosque at Silivrikapı, the Istanbul University Library and the Süleymaniye Library; the hilye that Sultan Reşad presented to the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne during his Rumeli journey has been lost since 1995. His jali ta'liq work, such as the unsigned inscription of the Bayezid Public Library, was judged less successful than his naskh, while his jali thuluth appears in the çâryâr-ı güzîn panels of the Bostancı and Cihangir mosques, a tile inscription in the Harem of the Topkapi Palace, the fountain inscription in the garden of the German Consulate, and the inscriptions of the Hürriyet-i Ebediyye martyrs. He gave the calligraphy licence to seventeen students, and the TDV entry also notes that he wrote some Sufi-themed poems and practised illumination, signing panels as a müzehhip. ²

On 31 May 1914 he was appointed teacher of thuluth and naskh at the newly opened Medresetü'l-Hattatin, but an affliction of his eyes forced him to leave the post after a time. He lived for many years in Cihangir; when his house there burned in the fire of 1916 he moved to Rumelihisarı, and there, on 10 Jumada al-Akhira 1338 — 1 March 1920 in the TDV entry's conversion — he died, and was buried in the cemetery beside the fortress. His house burned two days after his death, but his works were saved. ^{2 1}

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