Zellige is an ancient art in Morocco that is believed to date back to the tenth century. The people of the moroccan arabic inherited it from the Moriscos who came from Andalusia after its fall.
In Morocco, ceramic tiles flourished in the fes city during the Marinid era, when they introduced the use of colors such as blue, green, yellow and red.
Moroccan zellige is characterized by artistic and technical characteristics that have earned it great fame in the Gulf, Europe and America. Due to its privacy, zellige attracts the interest of plastic artists, architects, and lovers of riches and originality.
This industry witnessed a remarkable recovery, despite the rise in the art of zellige, which reaches 600 dollars per square meter in certain varieties.
The zellige industry is one of the artistic forms that most express the originality of Moroccan architecture, as it relies on simple raw materials and primitive mechanisms, mainly the creativity and creativity of the maker to enter the architecture of palaces and historical monuments. So, let’s get to know more, through our article, about the Moroccan zellige and the most important thing that distinguishes it.
Zellige is a special product that combines its humble raw ingredients with the skill of the Moroccan craftsman who masters this profession. It is about squares of dried clay measuring 10 x 10 cm long, painted with glossy paint, cut and carved gently by hand with an iron hammer designated for this purpose, to divide these squares into small pieces. The latter compose among themselves a system that responds to the rules of drawings and calligraphy that conform to the principles and respect all the rules of geometry of Islamic art.
These patterns are placed pieces of zellige that were collected together in coordination to give, with their multiplicity of colors and shapes, a breathtaking view on the walls that cover them, the stairs that form them, and the gates that cover them. Pavements and tiles of mosques, palaces and luxury residences. One of the peculiarities of this industry is that it is possible to reveal the secret of its components, the materials used in it, the means that it needs, and the methods of work, but despite that, all this is not enough, as the methods of engraving small parts have specificities that can only be reached by professional gradation, as they require special methods that only those who are experienced in them know. The methods of cutting and engraving are the key to the secret in this craft, in addition to a group of peculiarities that can only be reached through a group of experiences and skills gained from those with expertise in the field.
The person who works in the zellige industry does not rely in this craft except on old components and mechanisms, as he needs clay – the sun – a wooden board – a special oven – metal dyes – special wooden hammers and great experience and skill. The zellige industry is an industry that depends on its basis on the hand and skill of the maker to do a job that a machine cannot do. This is because the installation of small pieces of zellige or what is called chopping after carving them requires craftsmanship, artistry, and a delicate sense that a machine cannot do. This formation, which gives a group of shapes And endless drawings, so that by relying on a consistent drawing, The craftsman in the zellige industry is available to implement it on about 300 forms without prior diversification of colors and shapes.
The manufacture of zellige is necessarily an integrated work of a group of craftsmen, each in his field of specialization. There are those who specialize in preparing the raw material, then there are those who engrave it, then there are those who specialize in laying lines, and another who collects pieces and other tasks…
What attracts attention when we see the craftsmen in workshops or in the studios is the contrast between the magnificence and accuracy of the complete artistic masterpieces produced, and the primitive nature of the materials and tools used, and what increases the bewilderment of those who look at these artifacts is that the simplicity of the mechanisms used is completely in line with the techniques used from ages. Here it is related to skill, craftsmanship, and familiarity with the rules of workmanship. This skill is the first and the result of stages of learning and apprenticeship.
This craft is passed on from father to son, from teacher to student within the family workshops, where learning begins from childhood. The novice gradually performs the most easy tasks and he follows and observes what is being made around him, then he gradually moves to all stages of the industry from the least important to the most valuable. High before becoming an expert teacher and reference.
Therefore, every craftsman in the zellige industry usually has a group of artisans under his command, who are fully aware of what they are doing, because he was included in all stages of craftsmanship before he became the captain of her ship.
But the only shortcoming that we can stand on for most of the teachers is the absence of schooling for them, as all of them did not learn in schools and they mostly speak only one language, but the limited education of them was never an obstacle in front of them and did not prevent them today from being active elements in Moroccan society in Several areas and even political ones.
The materials used
The clay of Fes city, which is included in the composition of the zellige squares, is extracted in the form of blocks that are immersed in tanks called “zoba” for a day and night, after that the worker kneads it with his hand and foot at night and mixes it until it becomes smooth, then he beats and cuts it, then stretches it in the sun, flattening it with a hammer then it is smoothed, and then on a wooden board it is divided into square blocks of 10 x 10 cm in order to let it dry in the sun at a time that varies according to the weather. When it dries, it is put into the oven for the first time.
After this stage, the front of the square is quickly dipped in a mixture of paint before we put it into the oven for the second time, so that after the fire we get different colors white – black – blue – green – yellow – brown…
And during the burning of the squares, the color of the paint that we put, which consists of lead and sand, changes to give a different color, due to a special oxide.
The mixture of lead + sand + oxide, which is found, is ground and dissolved in water, to be dipped in it accurately and skillfully, before entering the kiln for the second time, which has a temperature of 800 degrees, in order to fix the color on the zellige piece.
This kiln is special in that it is heated from the bottom and the boxes are placed for firing in a specific order. At the bottom, we find the colors that bear great heat, such as the white squares, and at the top, we find the squares that don’t bear the heat, such as the green ones. We can also put squares of one color in one oven, and this is what makes us not always give importance to the sensitivity of some colors to heat.
After twenty-four hours, we take the squares out of the oven, monitor them, and then classify them according to colors.
Cutting of the zellige
The cutting of the zellige and its installation in the panels is considered one of the most important stages in the manufacture of Moroccan zellige, and from it it derives its specificity. With the help of a model, the maker draws the latter on the square and tries to draw the largest possible number of pieces by inserting axial lines one into the other so as not to waste the raw material expensive because it is the product of long work.
On a small table with a length of 40 cm, which the manufacturer prepares, which consists of simple materials (bricks that are often paved and smoothed with gypsum). On this table, there are sharp and solid materials of iron or marble. The manufacturer puts on it the prepared square, and with the help of a special iron hammer sharp on both sides, called the minqash, he cuts the shapes previously drawn on the square.
The solid piece on the table ensures that the squares do not break, so that the crushing process is easy.
The engraving maker moves the square in a way that makes it easy for him to knock, following the lines drawn on it, and with the other hand he holds the hammer or chisels with which he breaks the square.
Cracking is the second stage of cooling for small pieces, or what is termed by the manufacturers by extraction. These pieces are cooled diagonally to obtain a surface of cement when placed upside down.
Installation
Installation is on two types of blanks or brushes. After crushing and carving, the pieces are arranged according to shape and color. The maker of the blank places them one after the other in an inverted shape, the colored side down, on a smooth floor called the board, which is lined to guide the maker in the process of creating the desired shape. This process is important because it contributes to avoiding omission and error, because sometimes some shapes are similar with different colors and it is not possible to distinguish because the pieces are upside down.
The maker inserts the small pieces together to form the board. He works without seeing the colors or following a line or circumference of a circle drawn on the ground, as he relies only on his experience, skill, and focus.
When the small zellige pieces take their final shape, and after installation and collecting the small pieces on the board, the manufacturer sprays them with a mixture of gypsum and cement, which works to join and fix these pieces to each other. After this process, the manufacturer pours a mixture of cement, sand, and water on this painting and lets it dry. After that, the painting is ready for the final stage, which is to take its place on the wall or above a gate in a shrine, palace, or house, by pulling out what it was placed for.
