Mohammad Reza Emami


Mohammad Reza Emami was a Persian calligrapher in the 17th century. He lived from the era of Abbas I until the era of Suleiman I. He was Ali Reza Abbassi's student and was known as the Imam of calligraphers.
Mohammad Reza Emami was Mohammad Mohsen Emami's father and Ali Naghi Emami's grandfather. All of the three calligraphers were famous for their Thuluth works in the Safavid era. Many inscriptions of the historical buildings in Isfahan, Mashhad, Qom and Qazvin have been created by them.
When Ali Reza Abbassi started to work for Abbas I and became his close friend, Abbas I appointed him as the Thuluth script teacher of some other calligraphers like Mohammad Saleh Esfahani and Abdolbaghi Tabrizi.
He died probably in Mashhad after 50 years working in the field of calligraphy.

Works

Most of Emami's inscriptions are in Isfahan, but some of his works are also in Qom, Qazvin and Mashhad. His first inscription in Isfahan dates back to 1629 and his last inscription in Isfahan to 1670. His works from 1673 until 1676 are all in Mashhad, where he spent the last years of his life.
Mohammad Reza Emami's famous works are in the Shah mosque. There is another inscription by Mohammad Reza Emami above the magnificent entrance of this historical mosque under a Thuluth script of Ali Reza Abbassi. An inscription on the southern dome is also Emami's work. Other works of Emami are as follows:
Totally 29 inscriptions from the inscriptions of historical buildings in Isfahan are Mohamamd Reza Emami's works.