Ceiling Facet
16th-17th century
Description
Lines intersect and interlace to form a star and polygon pattern in this ceiling fragment. In prestigious buildings, panels of cedar carved and painted with complex designs were often employed to cover the wooden beam construction used throughout Morocco during the reigns of the Saʿdid (1554–1659) and early ʿAlawid (1664–present) dynasties. For viewers glancing upward, the pattern may have seemed celestial, alluding to a divinely ordered universe. The interlacing geometric mode of ornament underwent intense development around the year 1000 in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Empire. Initially applied to objects or parts of buildings with symbolic or religious value, the style came to be used for a broad range of structures and portable objects. Geometric interlace spread eastward and westward, but its decorative possibilities — rhythmic and complex, yet austere — found particular favor across North Africa from the late eleventh to the early seventeenth century.
Dimensions
H: 74 x W: 67 x Depth no greater than: 17 cm (29 1/8 x 26 3/8 x 6 11/16 in.)
Provenance
[Spink and Son, Ltd, London, 1981], sold; to Fogg Art Museum, 1981.
Related Artworks
View MoreLimestone, oosparite
14th centuryFrenchLimestone
12th centuryFrenchMarble
1st-5th century CERoman?Limestone
5th-6th centuryCopticLimestone, microsparite
13th centuryFrenchMolded earthenware
13th centuryJapaneseMarble
12th-13th centuryItalianDark-surfaced, light gray earthenware with mold-impressed decoration. Reportedly from Kyŏngju, North Kyŏngsang province.
7th-10th centuryKoreanMolded earthenware
9th-12th centuryJapaneseLimestone
6th centuryCopticLimestone
12th centuryFrench