Background
The name he is known by means literally “son of the doorkeeper.” Nevertheless, he received a thorough education in law and is said to have known the Qurʾān by heart.
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Ibn al-Bawwab
Edit Profileartist calligrapher illuminator painter
Career
He most likely died around 1022 AD in Baghdad. Ibn al-Bawwāb was from a poor family. Ibn al-Bawwāb’s interest in calligraphy was inspired by students of Ibn Muqlah.
Altogether, Ibn al-Bawwāb reputedly produced 64 copies of the Qurʾān by hand. One of the most beautiful in the rayḥānī script is in the Laleli Mosque in Istanbul, and another is in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland. a gift of the Ottoman Sultan Selim I (1470–1512). Ibn al-Bawwāb was recognized as a master in his own time.
His school of calligraphy lasted until Baghdad fell to the Mongols more than two centuries after his death.
