 Zellige.
The stunning intricate ornamental tiling patterns
that cover, with exuberant richness, walls, columns,
floors and fountains commonly seen throughout the
Imperial cities of Morocco and North Africa, are
known as Mosaics.
Mosaics
are made from polychrome cut tiles, little parts of
earthenware, called zillige.
The city of Fez was first in embracing this art,
with artisans decorating the walls of mosques,
schools and the beautiful villas of the wealthy. The
practice then spread throughout Moorish Spain a
North Africa.
Zellije is a local clay mixed with water and then
kneaded into clay. Moulded into small rectangular
slabs they are dried in the sun, coated with
different colored glazes and fired.
Motifs and patterns are then drawn on a large sheet
of paper. The individual colors are carefully
numbered and cut out. The patterns are then laid on
tiles of the same color and they are cut out. The
edges are smoothed and the tiles sorted out. The
Maallem, master craftsman, lays out the patterns on
a soft plaster surface, the outlines are retraced
with the point of a knife and the original tiles
inserted. The block is then covered with wooden
boards and worked into the structure once it's
perfectly dry.
The end results is a montage of tiles in an
endless array of colors and shapes with intricate
effects that dazzle the eye with the complexity of
its abstract patterns.
Zillihe is also known in the Moorish kingdoms of
Spain, where it flourished, as azuléjos. It takes a
Maallem, years to learn this complex beautiful
craft.
The Moroccan government has helped preserve this
tradition by actively commissioning zillige makers
to decorate public buildings, mosques and
ministerial and royal buildings. |
