Name

Ibn al-Bawwāb

Original name

Ibn al-Bawwāb, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Hilāl

Main activity

Calligrapher

Secondary activity

Illuminator, Librarian, Home decorator

Title

Name variations

Ibn al-Sitrī, Alī b. Hilāl"

Education place

Education institution

Activity place

Baghdad

Activity institution

Activity start date

Activity end date

1022

Place of birth

Date of birth

Place of death

Baghdad

Date of death

1022

Bibliographical references

Descriptive card

Ibn al-Bawwāb lived in the Buwayhid period. His attachment to the vizier Fakhr al-Mulk Abū Ghālib Muḥammad b. Khalaf (d. 27 Rabīʿ I 407/3 September 1016) made him a frequenter of the governmental circles; he was also in charge of the library of the Buwayhid Bahā' al-Dawla at Shīrāz. He was a devote man and knew the Qur'ān by heart and reportedly reproduced sixty-four copies of it. He had knowledge also of law and letters. His fame as calligrapher is unrecorded before him. He was fluent in all six scripts and refined his predecessor's, the vizier Ibn Muqla (d. 10 Shawwāl 328/20 July 940), "proportioned script" (al-khaṭṭ al-mansūb).

Entry author

Olivier Salem