Sami Efendi

Sami Efendi (13 March 1838 – 1 July 1912), whose full name was İsmâil Hakkı and who signed his works with the pen name Sâmi, was an Ottoman calligrapher, the last great master of jali ta'liq and jali thuluth. He gave the sultan's tughra its definitive form in the reign of Abdülhamid II, taught calligraphy for many years at the Topkapi Palace, and trained a generation of masters, among them Kâmil Akdik and Hasan Rıza Efendi. ^{1 2}

His birth is recorded in the sources by its Hijri date, 16 Dhu al-Hijja 1253, which the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi entry converts to 13 March 1838; the Turkish and Arabic articles gloss the same date as 1837, and the English article's lead line misprints his years as 1858–1912. This record follows 1838, with the glosses stated. ^{1 3 4}

He was born in the Haydarhâne quarter of Fatih, Istanbul, the son of Hacı Mahmud Efendi, steward (kethüda) of the quilt-makers' guild, and Nefise Hanım; because he was born just after the Eid al-Adha he was named İsmâil Hakkı. He began calligraphy at the school of the Kâtib Mustafa Efendi Mosque in Aksaray, learning thuluth and naskh from Boşnak Osman Efendi and taking his licence (icazet) from him — in those two scripts he had no other teacher. In 1853 he entered the finance office (Maliye Kalemi), where he was given the name Mehmed and the pen name Sâmi; he never used his real name on his works. There and after, he learned Bâbıâli-style rik'a from Mümtaz Efendi, divani, jali divani and the drawing of the tughra from Nâsıh Efendi, the calligraphy teacher of the Imperial Council, and he advanced his jali thuluth with Mehmed Şâkir Recâi Efendi, a student of Mustafa Râkım. ¹

He learned ta'liq from Kıbrısîzâde İsmâil Hakkı Efendi, taking his licence in 1857, and after that teacher's death in 1862 continued with Melekpaşazâde Ali Haydar Bey for jali ta'liq. He also attended the circles of Kazasker Mustafa İzzet Efendi, learned paper preparation and the making of ebru paper from Edhem Efendi, shaykh of the Üsküdar Özbekler Tekkesi — in one narration, from his ta'liq teacher instead — excelled at pen-knife making and seal engraving, and in 1864 took a further, honorary licence in thuluth-naskh from Mehmed Şevki Efendi and his uncle Mehmed Hulûsi Efendi, whom he admired. ^{1 4}

In the finance service he rose to the Mühimme Kalemi of the Imperial Council as a writer of imperial letters, and on 18 April 1878 he succeeded Nâsıh Efendi as teacher of the various scripts (hutût-ı mütenevvia) at the Imperial Council; he climbed further in the Nişân-ı Hümâyun office, and in 1894 was appointed, with additional salary, to teach in the calligraphy branch Grand Vizier Cevad Pasha had opened at the Council. For a long period he taught calligraphy at the Enderûn-ı Hümâyun in the Topkapi Palace and at the Mustafa Pasha Madrasa in Çarşıkapı, and his house became, in effect, a school of calligraphy visited by every master of the age. He retired after the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Era. ^{1 2}

He drew the tughras of Sultan Abdülaziz, Abdülhamid II and Sultan Reşad in their most perfect form, and it was his hand that gave the tughra its settled shape. His jali works were usually written in yellow arsenic ink on black paper, pierced to make stencils, and worked in gold by the illuminators of his day; very few of his pieces survive in soot ink. He was famous for his discipline: after writing a piece he would not look at it for a long time, so that its faults would show when he took it out again. ¹

Among his many students were Hacı Kâmil Efendi (Akdik), later called reîsü'l-hattâtîn, "chief of the calligraphers", Hulûsi Yazgan, İsmail Hakkı Altunbezer, Mehmed Nazif Bey, Ferid Bey and Hasan Rıza Efendi. After his daughter Saadet Hanım died in 1903 leaving an orphan, grief made him stop teaching for a time; through the mediation of Edhem Efendi of the Özbekler Tekkesi he took a few students again in his last years. He spent his winters in Horhor, Fatih, and his summers in Çengelköy. ¹

He spent his last year paralysed and died at his home in Horhor on 1 July 1912; he was buried the next day in the hazire of the Fatih Mosque. His student Kâmil Akdik wrote his tombstone inscription in jali thuluth, and its decoration was by the tughra-master İsmail Hakkı Bey. ^{1 2 4}

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