Day 162 - Moroccan court



June 24, 2019

Gallery 456, the Moroccan Court (more properly, the Patti Cadby Birch Court, named after its benefactor) was not wrested from anyplace. Based on models in Morocco and in Andalusia, including the Alhambra, it was created especially for the Met in 2010-2011 by craftsmen from Fez, who used traditional techniques of tilework and of plaster- and wood-carving.  Perhaps 20 feet on a side and 12 feet high, the space is intended to evoke the open courtyards of public and private buildings in Morocco and Moorish Spain; accordingly, it is topped by a ceiling of narrow dark wooden beams into which what appears to be a frosted-over square skylight (but may just be lighting tubes concealed by the glass ceiling) has been cut.  The gallery is framed on two sides by columns descending from rounded, carved-plaster arches; on the other two sides are an imposing door and a window frame carved from  the same dark wood used in the ceiling.  The gallery's soothing atmosphere is enhanced by a low fountain at the center of the space.  The fountain is shaped like a scalloped bowl; its water (recycled, no doubt) bubbles and gurgles peacefully. 

What impresses most, perhaps, is the multiplicity and harmony of the patterns in the tile-lined walls, door, and arches. Three things, I think, prevent the variety of patterns from falling into visual cacophony: the use of similar forms (pentagons, hexagons, sunbursts, stars in the tilework and woodwork; diamonds and swirling vegetal forms in the plaster); the repetition of these forms at regular intervals; and the limited color palette (primarily, blue-green, sky blue, and dark blue with flashes of gold, along with with the neutral beige of the plaster). 

I suppose I could single out one feature for further discussion, but really, it is the way that it all works together that makes the space so special. The gallery offers a welcome respite (with benches!) for weary Met visitors. And it gives me a great preview of what we can expect to see in Fez, since some of the decorative elements quote those  of the al-Attarin and Bu 'Inaniyya madrasas in that city.  

Comments

  1. Jennie TonicJuly 1, 2019 at 7:37 PM

    Thank you, we'll definitely stop here for a serene interlude on our next trip to the Met.

    ReplyDelete

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