Zellige

What it is

Zellige are glazed, coloured tiles that cover above all floors and the lower parts of the walls of buildings; their geometric patterns are created by setting many small shapes side by side.¹ Specialists speak of a marquetry of faience, that is, inlay work of glazed ceramic.² Each piece has a name: the eight-pointed star, for example, is called dirham, and curved shapes are named after things such as a duck, a comb or a bangle.³ In Moroccan Arabic the tile is called zellīž, and zellež means to cover a surface with mosaic.⁴

Where it comes from

The clay used by the workshops of Fez comes from the Benjlik deposit, also spelt Ben Jelliq, near the city⁵; the workshops lie east of Fez behind Mount Zalagh, near the clay pit.⁶ There is also the zellige of Tetouan, a less elaborate technique: there the shapes are cut straight from the raw clay, dipped in the glaze and only then fired.⁷

History

The first forms of zellige appear in the architecture of the Almohads (1130–1269), for example at the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh.⁸ The technique was developed further under the Marinids (1244–1465), when many madrasas (colleges) were built; it was then that the craftsmen of Fez brought it to its peak.⁹ Among the early examples is the as-Saffarin Madrasa in Fez, founded in 1271.¹⁰ Under the Marinids, Fez reached its zenith and replaced Marrakesh as the capital; most of the buildings of the medina, madrasas, fondouks, palaces, mosques and fountains, date from this period.¹¹

The Saadians (1530–1660) adopted the technique, and in Marrakesh new patterns appeared, such as sixteen-pointed stars.¹² The first palette of glazes was limited to black, turquoise blue and almond green, more rarely manganese brown and later ochre yellow; a dark red was added only from the 1930s.¹³

The tradition did not break off: a square panel from the 19th century in the Al Batha Museum in Fez, 72.7 centimetres wide, shows black and turquoise on an ivory-white ground with ochre-yellow bands and almond-green octagons; it was recovered in 1945 from a house in the city, and the catalogue sees in it the mastery inherited from the Marinids.¹⁴

What it is made of

Historic tiles have a porous, calcareous body under a lead glaze and were originally fixed with gypsum mortar.¹⁵ For the body, the craftsmen in Fez mix one third sandy clay with two thirds silty clay.¹⁶ According to Werner, the glaze is made from lead and a sandy red earth from Meknes, which are fired, ground and mixed with water and colourant; copper provides green, and ores provide dark blue and black.¹⁷

How it is made

The clay is soaked in water basins, rests overnight and is spread in moulds into slabs about ten centimetres in size, which dry for a day in summer and up to three days in winter.¹⁸ They are fired twice, first the raw slab, then, after glazing, the face¹⁹; according to laboratory tests, the firing temperatures were probably between 700 and 900 degrees.²⁰

The cutter chips the shape out of the glazed slab with a sharp hammer following a template, and a second craftsman cleans the edges and bevels the back.²¹ The traditional tool for this cut is called the menqach, and the cut takes years of practice.²² The setter lays the pieces glazed side down, from the centre of the pattern outwards; then the back is bound with cement and concrete into a panel that can be moved as a whole.²³

How to recognise it

As part of its labelling strategy, the Ministry of Handicrafts has created a collective certification mark for zellige from Fez; certificates are awarded to businesses whose samples comply with the rules of use.²⁴ Technical quality requirements for zellige from Fez were also drawn up for this purpose.²⁵ In January 2025 the State Secretariat for Handicrafts had the collective mark “Zellige de Tétouan” for handcrafted zellige from Tetouan registered with the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC), together with word marks for “Zellige” and “Zellige Marocain” in Arabic, French and Tamazight (ⵊⵊⵍⵍⵉⵊ).²⁶ The Ministry also mentions court proceedings to protect zellige from Fez²⁷, and since an agreement with the World Intellectual Property Organization of 7 July 2025, zellige and the kaftan have been among the cultural assets that Morocco has legally protected there.²⁸