TEHRAN – A collection of works created by the celebrated calligrapher Mohammad Ehsai at home during the coronavirus quarantine will go on view in an exhibition at Tehran’s Golestan Gallery on Friday.

This collection contains the master’s works in siah mashq, a style of nastaliq script which is primarily focused on technique and shape rather than meaning. 

In a statement published on Tuesday, the gallery said that the collection is the result of Ehsai’s practice to exercise his hand for nastaliq script after his long time work on the calligraphy of a copy of the Holy Quran he wrote in mohaqqaq script, another style of Islamic calligraphy.

In the winter of 2020 when the coronavirus hit the country, Ehsai, who had recently finished his work on the Holy Quran after almost ten years, began creating works in siah mashq in order to train his hand again for writing in nastaliq, which is his favorite style.

The home quarantine provided more time for him so he embellished every night of the period by creating pages of siah mashq, which have also been published in a book entitled “Mohammad Ehsai’s Homework”. 

Works for the book have been selected by Behzad Hatam, who is also the curator of the exhibition, which will be running until November 17.

The book published by Nazar in collaboration with Gallery 10 will be introduced during the opening ceremony of the showcase, which is Golestan’s second physical exhibit since the government has eased pandemic curbs on regular activities.

The first exhibition entitled “A Treasure Revealed” was organized last week. 

It was dedicated to displaying a collection of photos of the world’s museums taken by Ehsai during the late 1960s and early 1970s during his university years. 

A book of the same title carrying photos and other pictures by Ehsai was also unveiled at the exhibition.

Calligraphy works and calligraphic paintings by Ehsai have been offered at Iranian and international auction houses over the past decades.

His calligraphic painting named “Yazdan” was offered at £ 40,000 to 60,000 during the Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art sales at the Bonhams auction in London in November 2020.

In 2017, his calligraphy work was the second most expensive item sold in Tehran during the Baran Auction dedicated to calligraphic paintings and calligraphy works. It fetched 1.6 billion rials (about $39,000).           

Photo: A work of siah mashq created by calligrapher Mohammad Ehsai during the home quarantine. 

MMS/YAW