A Letter from a Safavid Architect: New Information about Master Ali-Akbar Esfahāni

At the Central Library of the University of Tehran there is a manuscript (No. 2934) titled The Collected Works by Esmā’il Kāshef Esfahāni. In the manuscript there is a written work under the title of “a draft written by Master Ali-Akbar Me’mār to one of his acquaintances”. A poet and tile-maker from the Safavid era, Kāshef Esfahāni was the son of an architect called Master Heydar. The former (999-1082 AH/ AD 1591-1671) lived during the reigns of Shah Abbas I, Shah Safi, Shah Abbas II and Shah Sulayman. The extant draft in the manuscript was produced by a personage known as Master Ali-Akbar, the architect. He wrote the letter to his cousin. It was probably a response to a former angry letter drafted by the cousin on the issue of claiming inheritance left by Ali-Akbar’s aunt. In this letter the master has pointed to his services to three Safavid rulers as well as to making various buildings, including mosques, schools and monasteries (houses for dervishes). Who is Master Ali-Akbar? We know a famous architect from this period, known as Ali-Akbar Esfahāni, the builder of the Abbāsi Great Mosque, whose name was inscribed there. He was probably the chief architect of Shah Safi’s court and the artisan who managed to accomplish the mosque during the reign of the mentioned ruler. Master Ali-Akbar Me’mār in the above-mentioned Collected Works was in all probability the same as Master Ali-Akbar Esfahāni, the builder and architect of the Abbāsi Great Mosque. The letter would provide us with some new information about the master and his historical personage.