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Abū Ṭālib Mudarris Hamadānī, who was alive in 1281/1864, was a craftsman of the Qājār period, specialising in pen-cases, bookbinding, paper-making ( abrīsāz, or marbled paper) and calligraphy. He was the inventor of a special design for marbled paper known as būm-i qiyāmat (a design with large sweeps) (Bayānī, 4/7), and created a pattern called mawjī (wavy) (Muṣawwir al-Mulkī, 28–29), used for application on pen-cases, book covers, vanity boxes and other objets in lacquer. The ‘wave’, or mawjī, design was created by narrow, parallel rows of wavy lines in a check pattern,…

Aḥmad Kātib (alive in 897/1492), known as Fakhr al-Dīn, was a calligrapher skilled in the nastaʿlīq, riqāʿ and thulth scripts. His known works are as follows: 1. A manuscript of Kulliyyāt by Kamāl Khujandī in medium bas-relief nastaʿlīq script, with titles inscribed in fine riqāʿ script, signed ‘ aqall ʿibād Allāh al-Wāhib Fakhr al-Dīn Aḥmad al-Kātib’, and dated 865/1461, which is kept in the Museum of Islamic and Turkish Art in Istanbul (Bayānī, 1/43, 4/18). 2. An inscription ( katība) on lustre tiles ( kāshī-yi muʿarraq) in white thulth script on a navy blue background. This katība is on…