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Two square panels of the same design, an eight-pointed star with leaves, corner rosettes and half-lozenges on cobalt: one as tile mosaic, every colour a separate cut piece set in pale grout, the other as cuerda seca, the colours divided by dark lines and laid across a grid of square tiles.
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The Pattern Atlas

Two Tile Methods

No. 73 of 100 · free · 300 dpi

What you seeTwo square panels of the same design, an eight-pointed star with leaves, corner rosettes and half-lozenges on cobalt: one as tile mosaic, every colour a separate cut piece set in pale grout, the other as cuerda seca, the colours divided by dark lines and laid across a grid of square tiles.

What it meansPersian builders used both methods. In tile mosaic, called moʿarraq, single-colour glazed tiles are cut into pieces and fitted together. In cuerda seca, known in Iran as haft rangi, several glazes are fired on one tile, kept apart by a line of greasy pigment that burns away to leave a dark outline.

Where it worksA crisp, graphic plate for a kitchen, a hallway or a designer's studio.

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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

Everything is one ZIP: every shape and size, the phone wallpaper, the SVGs and a printing guide.

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More from The Pattern Atlas

All 100 prints
A glass mosque lamp hanging on three chains against a warm glow: a wide flaring neck banded in blue enamel with a white scroll and red and green palmettes, a rounded body with three visible loop handles and a band of roundels, and a high foot, all edged in gold.Mosque LampNo. 74
Six tools laid out and labelled: a reed pen with its cut nib, a narrow pen knife, a magnified view of the nib's slit and oblique cut, a lidded brass inkwell, an agate burnisher and a mistar, a card strung with cords for ruling lines.Calligrapher’s ToolsNo. 75
Five hanks of wool hanging from pegs, each with its dye source drawn beneath it: madder red with its roots, indigo blue with a leafy sprig and a cake of dye, weld yellow with its flower spike, walnut brown with a green husk and a split nut, and khaki yellow with a pomegranate and pieces of dried rind.Natural DyesNo. 76
Six pigments, each shown as its raw material beside an open mussel shell holding the ground colour: lapis lazuli flecked with gold pyrite, banded green malachite, red vermilion, yellow orpiment, flakes of lead white, and a stack of gold leaf beside a shell of gold.Manuscript PigmentsNo. 77
A Persian album page with its parts named: a small painting of a cypress, a blossoming tree and a bird on gold-tinted paper at the centre, an inner border of blue paper with gold cloud bands, fine coloured rulings, and a wide margin flecked and painted with gold sprays.Album PageNo. 78
Four glazed vessels drawn on a centre line, the left half of each cut through to show the wall in solid black and the right half decorated: a waisted albarello with cobalt stripes, a turquoise ewer with a spout and handle, a bowl with cobalt petals and a jug with lozenges and a strap handle.Pottery FormsNo. 79
A hanging brass lantern glowing against deep blue: a pierced dome and crown over a six-sided body, its front face cut with eight-pointed stars and its sides with lozenges. Beside it three pierced brass samples: stars, teardrops and a lattice.Pierced LanternNo. 80
The Basmala, fully vowelled, set large in black within a gold-ruled frame on cream, as on a manuscript page, with illuminated headpiece bands of gold, lapis and red above and below in the taller shapes.NaskhNo. 81

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