A number of distinguished calligraphers emerged in the Ottoman world during the 15th century. Regarded as the master among contemporary calligraphers, Şeyh Hamdullah (1429 - 1520) brought a new approach to the art and created his personal style; he laid the groundwork of Ottoman calligraphy to a large extent. After his time the greatest Ottoman calligraphers were Ali Bin Yahya Sofi, who wrote the inscription on the gate of the Topkapı Palace leading to the Sultanahmet Fountain and the one in the Fatih Mosque in İstanbul; Karahisari, who ornamented the dome of the Süleymaniye Mosque; Hafız Osman, who gave a new impetus to calligraphy in the 17th century and whose Koran was diffused throughout the Islamic world in stone print versions; and later on, Mustafa Rakım, Mehmet Esat Yesari, Kadıasker Mustafa İzzet Efendi and Yesarizade Mustafa İzzet Efendi.

Calligraphy became one of the central decorative art forms in Islamic society due to the religiously imposed ban on painting. The Turks came under this prohibition after their conversion to Islam in the 10th century. Without calligraphy, Seljuk and Ottoman decoration - including tuğra - as well as architecture would have resembled "a church with effaced icons."

Examples of Calligraphy