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Four kinds of merlon drawn as strips of wall on pale blue: stepped sandstone merlons, pierced stepped merlons on brick, trefoil merlons on a wall of alternating red and pale courses, and pyramid-capped merlons on a rammed-earth wall.
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The Pattern Atlas

Merlons

No. 51 of 100 · free · 300 dpi

What you seeFour kinds of merlon drawn as strips of wall on pale blue: stepped sandstone merlons, pierced stepped merlons on brick, trefoil merlons on a wall of alternating red and pale courses, and pyramid-capped merlons on a rammed-earth wall.

What it meansMerlons, the raised parts of a crenellation, crown city walls and the roofs of mosques. Stepped merlons are widespread, the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo has a pierced openwork cresting, Mamluk buildings use leaf-shaped merlons and Maghrebi walls often have pointed caps.

Where it worksA light, graphic plate for a hallway, a stairwell or a study.

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2:3 · 7200 × 10800 px4×6 · 8×12 · 12×18 · 16×24 · 20×30 · 24×36 in
3:4 · 5400 × 7200 px6×8 · 9×12 · 12×16 · 18×24 in
4:5 · 7200 × 9000 px4×5 · 8×10 · 16×20 · 24×30 in
11:14 · 3300 × 4200 px11×14 in
A-series · 7023 × 9933 pxA5 · A4 · A3 · A2 · A1

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All 100 prints
Three panels of carved stucco in cream on terracotta: style A with compartments of deeply cut vine leaves and grapes, style B with flatter leaves picked out by drilled dots and notches, and style C, the bevelled style, with mirrored abstract forms cut on a slant so that no background is left.Samarra StuccoNo. 52
A wooden ceiling seen from below on ink: interlaced straps of light wood form eight-pointed stars and polygons painted red, green, blue and gold, framed by a frieze of small gold stars, with the flat centre set within four sloping sides divided by gilded hip lines and a star boss in the middle.Lacería CeilingNo. 53
The facade of a Mamluk sabil on saffron: below, large windows with bronze grilles set in walls of alternating red and pale stone under joggled lintels and inlaid arches; above, an open loggia of pointed arches behind a wooden balustrade, sheltered by a projecting wooden canopy.SabilNo. 54
A salsabil on deep teal, in elevation and plan or section: a niche framed with gold stars and crowned with muqarnas holds a marble slab carved with chevron ripples, water runs down it into a basin and then along a narrow channel with small pools to an octagonal fountain.SalsabilNo. 55
The plan of a Seljuk han in dark green on sage: thick walls with buttress towers and round corner towers, a monumental portal opening into a courtyard with a small mosque raised on four arches and rooms and arcades along its sides, and behind it a covered hall of aisles with a lantern over the central nave.CaravanseraiNo. 56
The plan of a courtyard mosque on cream: a prayer hall of columns with a wider central aisle and a dome before the mihrab, the minbar beside it, a courtyard with arcades on three sides and a fountain at its centre, and a minaret on the axis opposite the qibla wall, with labels and leader lines.Mosque PlanNo. 57
A section through a bathhouse on aubergine, with a plan below in taller formats: a domed changing room with a lantern and fountain, a warm room and a hot room whose domes are set with small glass lights, a raised floor heated by hot air from the furnace, and a boiler and chimney at the end.HammamNo. 58
Four column capitals in white marble on rose: an acanthus capital with drilled leaves and volutes, a muqarnas capital of stepped cells, a lozenge capital of triangular facets, and a Nasrid capital with a round lower part and a carved cubic block, each on the top of its shaft.CapitalsNo. 59

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