Collection: Muhammad Rizavi Hindi ?

Muhammad Rizavi Hindi (active late 16th to early 17th century) was a calligrapher and manuscript illuminator at the Safavid court in Persia. Trained in the nastaʿlīq script, he specialized in the gulzar style, where dense, intertwined vegetal motifs framed Arabic and Persian texts. His work appears in imperial copies of the Khamsa of Nizami, including a folio depicting "The Ascent of the Prophet to Heaven" (c. 1600, Art Institute of Chicago).

Rizavi Hindi’s compositions merged text and ornament through meticulous ink work and gold leaf application, a technique called "tazhib". His gulzar pages often included marginalia in "shikasta" script, contrasting with the central nastaʿlīq columns.

The interplay of script and illumination reflected Safavid aesthetic principles, where calligraphy served as both devotional text and visual hierarchy. An 1860 specimen in the V&A shows the persistence of his stylistic innovations in Qajar-era manuscripts.