The most famous seal engraver in Amasya in the first half of the seventeenth century, in Hüsameddin's words the city's "first hakkâk", was Mehmed Çelebi, who also wrote poetry under the pen name Hâtemî. That a craftsman who carved letters into stone and metal should take his pen name from "hâtem", the ring into which a seal is cut, unites the poet and the artisan in a single word. He had learned writing from his uncle Hüseyin Efendi, one of the renowned calligraphers of Amasya in his day. For his quick wit and refined taste he was invited to literary gatherings, and people delighted in his conversation. He died around 1051 (1641-42), at about seventy years of age.

His Life

In the entry Hâtemî Mehmed Çelebi-Hakkâk, in the ninth volume of Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's history, the craftsman and the man of the gatherings stand side by side:

Amasyalıdır. Dede Çelebizâde Hasan Çelebi mahdûmu ve hattât-ı meşhûr Hüseyin Efendi'nin yeğenidir. Hutût-ı mütenevvi'ayı amcası Hüseyin Efendi'den ahz u temeşşûk edib hatt-ı ta'lîkte mahâret kazandığından hakkâk-ı meşhûr oldu. Amasya'da birinci hakkâk olarak tanınmış bir sîmâ-yı latîf olup letâfet-i tab'a mâlik bir şâir ve edîb olduğundan mecâlis ve mehâfil-i üdebâya davet ve sohbetinden kesb-i inbisât edilirdi. 1051 hudûdunda yetmiş yaşlarında vefât etdi. Hoş-gû, hâzır cevâb, şâir bir hattât idi.

In English: He was from Amasya, the son of Dede Çelebizâde Hasan Çelebi and nephew of the famous calligrapher Hüseyin Efendi. He took the various scripts from his uncle Hüseyin Efendi and practised them, and having become skilled in the ta'lik script he became a famous engraver. He was a pleasant figure, known in Amasya as the foremost engraver. Being a poet and man of letters of refined nature, he was invited to the gatherings and assemblies of literary men, and people took delight in his conversation. He died around 1051, at about seventy years of age. He was a fine speaker, quick at repartee, a poet and calligrapher.

A hakkâk was a craftsman who carved inscriptions and ornament into hard surfaces such as seals, ring stones or inscription panels. Since in seal engraving the writing itself is the material of the work, a good engraver was also expected to be a good calligrapher; Hüsameddin, too, ties Mehmed Çelebi's fame to his mastery of ta'lik. If the date of death is taken together with the note "about seventy years of age", his birth falls in the early 980s, that is, in the mid-1570s; the reckoning is approximate.

His Uncle Hüseyin Efendi and the Family

Hüseyin Efendi, Mehmed Çelebi's teacher and uncle, is described in a separate entry in the ninth volume. According to the entry Hüseyin Efendi-Dede Çelebizâde, he was the son of Ramazân Çelebi bin Dede Ali Çelebi. He learned writing first with the famous calligrapher Hayreddînzâde Mehmed Çelebi, then with Derviş Ali Efendi, sheikh of the Pîr Sinan lodge in the Şehreküstü quarter; he taught calligraphy to some fifty students in Amasya and died after 1003 (1594-95) while calligraphy teacher of the Sultan Bayezid school. Hüsameddin regards him as the unrivalled master of his age in the various scripts, especially celî and nesih, and adds a personal note: an En'âm-ı Şerîf that Hüseyin Efendi wrote in 991 (1583) had been the pride of his own house until it burned.

Read together, the entries reveal a family of calligraphers. Hüseyin Efendi was one of the children of Ramazân Çelebi, son of Dede Ali Çelebi; that Mehmed Çelebi's father Hasan Çelebi was also a son of Ramazân Çelebi is inferred from the family name "Dede Çelebizâde" they share and from Hüseyin being called "uncle"; Hüsameddin gives Hasan Çelebi no entry of his own. Hüseyin Efendi's son Rüşdü İbrâhim Efendi also learned calligraphy from his father, became clerk of the Amasya mint and, when the mint was closed, of the endowments of Sultan Bayezid, and died childless in Şevval 1039 (May-June 1630). Hüsameddin counts him too as a poet and writes that he joked and exchanged verses with contemporaries such as Turâbî Mustafa Efendi. This poet-clerk, Mehmed Çelebi's cousin, died some twelve years before him. Thus in the same house the work of the pen went on for two generations, one writing on paper, the other on stone.

His Poetry

Of this beloved guest of the gatherings not a single line remains: no poems by Hâtemî Mehmed Çelebi have come down to us. Hüsameddin grants him the epithet "poet" without giving an example; Metin Hakverdioğlu's survey, published in 2024, likewise places him among the poets Hüsameddin mentions. His quick wit and his being "hoş-gû", a fine speaker, suggest that he was known for quatrains, jests and witticisms improvised in company; even if these were ever written down, they are not in our hands today. Whether the seals made by this engraver bore verses of his own is also unknown.

The pen name Hâtemî is found among several men of Amasya in these centuries. The great fifteenth-century scholar Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Çelebi and Hâtemî Abdülkerîm Çelebi of Prince Bayezid's circle lived a century and a half before him. The court clerk Hâtemî İbrâhim Çelebi, on the other hand, was his contemporary, and his father was a ring-making jeweller. That a seal engraver and a ring-maker's son chose the same name may also be a coincidence; the sources speak of no tie between the two.

Chronology

991 (1583): His uncle Hüseyin Efendi writes the En'âm-ı Şerîf later kept in Hüsameddin's house.

After 1003 (1594-95): Hüseyin Efendi dies.

Şevval 1039 (May-June 1630): His cousin Rüşdü İbrâhim Efendi dies.

c. 1051 (1641-42): Mehmed Çelebi dies at about seventy.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources