black with a mount · Medina, Marrakech · Rebuilt 1564
The Madrasa Court
Ben Youssef Madrasa · Rebuilt 1564 · Medina, Marrakech
- Giclée on 200gsm archival matte, pigment inks
- Printed to order in Europe and posted to you
- Framing is optional, and framed prints arrive ready to hang
About this piece
Three storeys of student cells around one courtyard, and every surface a different discipline: zellij to shoulder height, carved stucco above it, cedar above that. The tile is where the geometry lives. A maâlem cuts each piece from a fired blank with a sharpened hammer, bevelled so the glaze catches and the joint disappears, and he does it from memory because there is no drawing.
A living tradition
This comes from a craft people still practise. It is nobody's private property and it is not nobody's work either: it was made, over centuries, mostly by women whose names were never written down. We say so rather than call it anonymous.
This is one of the seventeen places you can have your own animal painted into. Paint your pet here.
