Hilyah, with Four Certificates of Calligraphic Merit

This hilyah (hilye-i sherife) is in effect an examination piece, submitted by the calligrapher Mehmed Zuhdi to his master, Mehmed Salih Shukri, and three other calligraphers – Hafiz 'Ali Reza, Mehmed Hilmi and Mehmed Recai (Raja'i). The four panels at the bottom of the piece bear their licences permitting Zuhdi to sign as a traditionally trained and accomplished calligrapher (ijazah bi-wad' al-kitbah). This meant that the calligrapher could sign his work using the verb katabahu ('written by'), a term which – in the Ottoman world at least – was restricted to licensed scribes. Although Mehmed Zuhdi has not signed this work, possibly as a courtesy to his examiners, his name – as the licencee – appears in each of the four certificates. [For the hilyah, see CAL 459]