**early life and contributions to ottoman calligraphy** hâfiz osman, a renowned ottoman calligrapher, was born in istanbul, turkey in 1642. his life coincided with the zenith of the ottoman empire's cultural and artistic flourishing under suleiman the magnificent (1520–1566). hâfiz osman is celebrated for his improvements to the thuluth script, a cursive script used in medieval times on mosque decorations, and for developing a layout t…