The Zelliges: An Ancestral Tradition

The Zelliges: An ancestral Tradition

Zellige (Arabic: الزليج, also zelige or zellij) is a mosaic tile made of geometric tiles chiseled individually in a plaster base. This form of Islamic art is one of the main features of Moroccan architecture. It consists of mosaics with geometric patterns, used to decorate walls, ceilings, fountains, floors, swimming pools, and tables.

History:

The Moorish art of zellige flourished during the Hispano-Moorish period (Azulejo) of the Maghreb and the region known as Al-Andalus (modern Spain) between 711-1492. The technique was very developed during the Nasrid dynasty and the Merinid dynasty which gave it more importance around the 14th century and introduced the colors blue, green and yellow. Red was added in the 17th century. The old enamels with natural colors were used until the beginning of the 20th century and the colors had probably not changed much since the Merinid period. The cities of Fez and Meknes in Morocco remain the centers of this art.

Art owners have historically used zellige to decorate their homes as a statement of luxury and sophistication for locals. Zellige is typically a series of patterns using colorful geometric patterns. This frame of expression was born from the need of Islamic artists to create spatial decorations avoiding representations of living things, in accordance with the teachings of Islamic law.

use: 

Zelliges are used to cover walls, and sometimes also floors. The tiles used for the floors are approximately two centimeters thick. Sometimes square tiles of 10 cm on each side are used with the cut corners to combine them with smaller pieces of color. The bejmat is also used to decorate the floors, rectangular tiles of about 12 by 14 cm, usually interlaced in a V shape.

Colors:

Nowadays, the chromatic palette of zelliges is very rich, which allows a large number of combinations:

The white base color of the enamel is obtained by coating the pieces of clay first with calcina (khfîf) and silica sand in an aqueous solution. Calcium 4 is a mixture of tin (15 parts) and lead (100 parts), calcined in the oven to obtain oxides, then ground in a grinder by the potters.

For a purer white, the proportion of tin is increased.

Blue is obtained from blue enamel powder (brâya, ‘elja) imported from other countries. It is an artificial color made by the fusion of natural cobalt arsenide, previously burned to give cobalt oxide, with quartz and potassium. Today, enamel is imported to achieve a brighter color than cobalt in southern Morocco.

Brown is obtained by local minerals such as oligisto or manganese (moghnâsîya kahla). Depending on the presence or not of manganese, it may present purple tones or approach the color black.

The yellow comes from local ferrous minerals that appear in mixtures such as limonite or stibnite (natural antimony sulfide).

Green is the result of adding white enamel copper oxide (prepared by potters from the remains of red lids purchased from latoneros) or calcosine (natural copper sulfide)

Red and orange are new colors made from imported synthetic pigments that began to be used in the Maghreb in the 17th century.

Clays for Zellige:

Fez and Meknes in Morocco are still the production centers for zellige tiles due to the Miocene gray clay of Fez. The clay of this region is mainly composed of kaolinite. For Fez and Meknes, the composition of clay is composed of 2-56% clay minerals, calcite 3-29%. Meriam El Ouahabi declares that:

From the other sites (Meknes, Fez, Salé and Safi), the clay mineral composition shows, in addition to kaolinite, the presence of illite, chlorite, smectite and traces of mixed illite / chlorite layer (Figure 3). Meknes clays belong to illite clays, characterized by illite (54 - 61%), kaolinite (11 - 43%), smectite (8 - 12%) and chlorite (6 - 19%) (figure 3 ). Fes clays have a homogeneous composition (Fig. 3) with illite (40-48%). and kaolinite (18-28%) as the most abundant clay minerals. Chlorite (12-15%) and smectite (9-12%) are generally present in small amounts. A mixed illite/chlorite layer is present as a trace in all of the Fes clay materials examined.

Zellige crafts: 

Zellige making is considered an art in itself. Art is passed on from generation to generation by the maâlems (master craftsmen). Long training begins in childhood to establish the required skills.

Careful attention to detail is required when creating zellige. The small shapes (cut according to a precise radius gauge), the painted pieces and covered with enamel are then assembled in a geometric structure as in a puzzle to form the finished mosaic. The process has not changed for a millennium, although the design and design have started to use new technologies such as data processing.

Zellige manufacturing:

The first step in manufacturing is the molding of clay (mzahri in Arabic). It follows the calibration and drying of the formed tile, then its first firing. The tiles, spaced about ten centimeters apart, are then glazed and fired. The tiles of different colors are then cut into defined geometric shapes which allow them to be intertwined. This artisanal cut is made using a slicer hammer that reveals a thin border of terracotta exposed around the edges of the pieces of cut tiles (“tesserae”). The kassar is the craftsman responsible for cutting the earthenware tiles. His hammer is named manqach. After this first cut, the next step is the khalla which consists of chamfering the tesserae by giving them regular stops. In Arabic, the craftsman who designs geometric patterns, sometimes very complex, is called "mâalem". He is usually able to draw and assemble geometric tesserae from memory, and stick them directly to the walls to decorate them.

The fuel for traditional ovens was palm leaves, large white thistles, and branches of oleander. 

The Alaoui mâalem in the middle of the 20th century revolutionized the technique of installing zelliges. At that time, decorative earthenware was no longer limited to sacred or intimate spaces but also decorated public monuments. The system designed by Masalem d'Alaoui allowed faster and stronger installation. The zelliges did not rest one by one on the walls but by whole panels. From a plot on the ground, the zelliges are placed upside down on black soap, sprinkled with stucco mixed with water. Then they are covered with a thick layer of mortar that contains everything. The royal commissions have revived the trades of the zellige (the Mohammed-V mausoleum in Rabat and the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca.

The clay is delivered to the workshop with double packages loaded with donkeys. Craftsmen crush the clay blocks and dip them in the basins dug on the court floor. The craftsman descends into the pit and grinds the clay with his hands to enter the water. The resulting paste is drained around the edges of the pit and then relegated en masse to a corner of the workshop. When it is drained, the clay is spread on the terraces to dry in the sun during the summer months. During the winter, employees glazed, cooked and cut the tiles.