Square Tile (Late 19th century): Artwork and History

Square Tile (Late 19th century) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Morocco.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Geometric tilework comprised of individually cut pieces, or zillij, is a prominent feature of Moroccan architecture dating back more than 700 years. It is incredibly costly to make due to the skill involved in the design and layout of the mosaic. This imitation zillij tile achieves a similar effect while reducing the cost of labor and materials, and it speaks to the enduring importance of the zillij style as a highly prized art form in 19th-century Morocco. In an architectural context, numerous zilij tiles would have been arranged to create an elaborate network of interconnecting forms, such as those found in buildings like Madrasat al-Bu'naniyyah in Fez. The art of zillij is closely connected to a Moroccan sense of space; within public spaces and private homes, the use of zillij tiles could distinguish special rooms meant for important guests. Zillij continues to be a highly venerated art form in Morocco, where a community of dedicated artisans have carried on the traditional methods of the craft.

Object facts

• Title: Square Tile
• Date: Late 19th century
• Artist attribution: Morocco
• Place of origin: Morocco
• Medium: Buff pottery with polychrome painting over white glaze
• Dimensions: 11.9 × 11.7 × 1.8 cm (4 11/16 × 4 9/16 × 3/4 in.)
• Type: Architectural fragment
• Department: Arts of Africa
• Reference number: 1925.770

Collection credit

Gift of Samuel A. Marx

View the original

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.