Mu‘tamid Nishat (Isfahani [Mu‘tamid al-Dawla])

Nashat Isfahani, Mirza ‘Abd al-Vahhab Musawi (d. 1828), son of Mirza Muhammad Rahim. A Musawi Sayyid, calligrapher and poet with the nom de plume Nashat and the title Mu’tamid al-Dawla. He studied Persian and Arabic literature and different disciplines, e.g. mathematics, metaphysics, and logic, and attained mastery of calligraphy as well. He wrote nasta’liq, shikasta ta’liq, particularly shikasta nasta’liq elegantly, skillfully following the models set by ‘Abd al-Majid. He supported the literary restoration style when Isfahan was the center of this literary and poetical movement and its literary circles were attended by poets and litterateurs. He was born in Tehran in 1803. He entered the Qajar Fath’ali Shah’s court as a secretary and was awarded the title Mu’tamid al-Dawla and was later promoted to the office of the Chief of the Chancery. The majority of the royal decrees and private correspondence as well as the contracts and testimonies of the royal family were written by him to his last days. He once traveled to Paris on behalf of the king to visit Napoleon I. He died of tuberculosis in Tehran. His famous works include Ganjina-yi Nashat, also entitled Ganjina-yi Mu’tamid, as mentioned by al-Dari’a, consists of five sections (durj): scribal writings (munsha’at); private correspondence; official correspondence; administrative writings; and the decrees written for the Qajar Fath’ali Shah. Ganjina-yi Nashat includes qasidas, ghazals, qit’as, and mathnawis. The fifth section (durj) consists of his poetry, literary writings, and moral anecdotes. The posthumous collection of Ganjina gave birth to different changes in different editions. His Divan, including ghazals, qasidas, mathnawis, quatrains, qit’as, and single couplets appeared in 1958 under the tile of Ganjina-yi Nashat.

Asar-afarinan (6/ 39-40).