Upper part of a double door, carved and applied wood
Morocco; 16th century
H: 198.5; W: 204.5 cm
Inventory number 100/2005
The wooden panel is just the upper half of a double door that must originally have been at least four meters tall. The earliest doors of this kind are known from southern Spain and Morocco in the 14th century. They were used to form an architectural whole together with stucco and tiles, which also had geometric patterns. This door, however, comes from 16th-century Morocco, where it must have been used in an important religious or secular building.
The complicated geometric decorations that can be repeated endlessly are among the distinctive features of Islamic art. Decorations of this kind have often been seen as a metaphor of the infiniteness of God.
The complicated geometric decorations that can be repeated endlessly are among the distinctive features of Islamic art. Decorations of this kind have often been seen as a metaphor of the infiniteness of God.