Readings of this motif
- Sacred names repeated across a wall.
- Lettering used as architecture.
How to recognise it
Look for the Brick script (banna'i) as a repeated unit rather than a single image: its scale, density and the way it sits in a border or field often tell you more about workshop and region than the form alone. The same motif crosses weaving, metal, tile and painting, so a match is a starting point for comparison, never proof of origin.
Used in these crafts
A technique of architectural revetment in which monochrome glazed tiles are cut into small individual pieces to a template and set together, glaze face down, into a mortar bed to form complex polychrome patterns and inscriptions.
Square polychrome tiles painted with several overglaze colours and fired together, allowing large architectural schemes to be produced faster than cut tile mosaic.
A hanging cursive script developed in Iran for Persian poetry, distinguished by its sloping baseline, sharply contrasted thick and thin strokes, and sweeping final letters.