Publication Date
986 - 1002 AH / 1578 - 1593 AD
Publication Place
-
Department of Historical Buildings
Subject
Mosaic of multi-colored tiles.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع: 76.5 سم؛ الطول: 76.5 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
C.63
Record ID
object;ISL;ma;Mus01_C;43;ar
Library Location
Batha Museum; Fez
Date
986 - 1002 AH / 1578 - 1593 AD
Notes
A panel of wall paneling belonging to El Badi Palace, composed of a mosaic of pieces of enamelled pottery known in Morocco as “zillij”. Its decoration is based on underlining, and is based on a geometric decoration. Its diagram is based on star plates, squares, and triangles, and on a radial composition. The center of this decoration is occupied by a seven-pointed star, surrounded by a black decorative protrusion, from which delicate sections of alternating mesh decoration of blue and black colors branch out, to draw a large cruciform body, bordered by a black mesh decoration within which countless small white stars are formed. Sparkling. Several lattices branch out from this shape, in ochre, yellow, blue and black, and create other, more extensive compositions and stellar decorative elements, extending further and reaching the edges of the panel. This sample of tilework demonstrates the precision and grandeur of the famous tiles with which the walls of the El Badi Palace were covered, whose founder, the Saadi king Al-Mansur Al-Dhahabi, wanted it to be more beautiful and larger than the Alhambra Palace in Granada. Moroccan historians and foreign visitors, who were received at the Badi Palace in its glory, before it was completely destroyed and plundered at the beginning of the Alawite era, praised the paneling of its ceilings and walls.
Sample Text
Naima El Khatib-Boujibar “Multicolor Zellige Painting” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;ma;Mus01_C;43;ar
