Ali-Shir Nava'i
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'Ali-Shir Nava'i, also known as Nizām-al-Din ʿAli-Shir Herawī was a Timurid poet, writer, statesman, linguist, Hanafi Maturidi mystic and painter who was the greatest representative of Chagatai literature.
16th-century portrait of Ali-Shir Nava'i by Mahmud Muzahhib, now located in the Museum of the Astan Quds Razavi in Mashhad, Iran
Mystics in a garden, an illustration to Sadd-i Iskandari by Qasim Ali. Herat, c. 1485. Bodleian Library
A page from Nava'i's diwan. From the library of Suleiman the Magnificent.
The top exterior of Nava'i's Khamsa (Five Poems) on display at the Walters Art Museum. This copy dates to the 16th century.
Chagatai language
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Chagatai, also known as Turki, Eastern Turkic, or Chagatai Turkic, is an extinct Turkic language that was once widely spoken across Central Asia. It remained the shared literary language in the region until the early 20th century. It was used across a wide geographic area including western or Russian Turkestan, eastern or Chinese Turkestan, the Crimea, the Volga region, etc. Literary Chagatai is the predecessor of the modern Karluk branch of Turkic languages, which includes Uzbek and Uyghur. Turkmen, which is not within the Karluk branch but in the Oghuz branch of Turkic languages, was nonetheless heavily influenced by Chagatai for centuries.
Lizheng Gate at the Chengde Mountain Resort. The second column from the left is the Chagatai language written in Perso-Arabic Nastaʿlīq script which reads Rawshan Otturādiqi Darwāza.
Late 15th century Chagatai Turkic text in Nastaliq script.