Seeking Mashrabiya

One of our favorite artifacts of Egyptian architecture is mashrabiya.

From the Wikipedia:

A mashrabiya or mashrabiyya is an architectural element which is characteristic of traditional architecture in the Islamic world and beyond. It is a type of projecting oriel window enclosed with carved wood latticework located on the upper floors of a building, sometimes enhanced with stained glass.

A stroll through along any street in an older section of Cairo or along El Moez Street provides examples.  Sitting in our favorite street cafe in Khan el Khalili, I photographed a row of mashrabiya windows.

 

 

Nearby, a shop owner is eating lunch amidst a sampling of mashrabiya inspired grid work.

 

       

More examples pop up throughout the Khan. 

  

Linda has a new wall of bookshelves in her library at home in MN and thought that a bit of mashrabiya grid work should be incorporated in them.  We set out last year to find some. This year we collected a few more pieces.

Where to find them?  I suppose we could have some current versions custom made, but that wasn't really what we had in mind.  We wanted older authentic pieces, so we headed to one of our favorite shops in Khan el-Khalili.  

This antique store is nestled back in a corner of the Khan that doesn't see a lot of traffic.  The owner, Ahmed, must spend a lot of time at estate sales, garage sales, or their equivalent to collect his marvelous treasures.  The diver's helmet near the entrance to his shop would make a perfect addition to someone's garden back home, perhaps along the New England coast.  Other unique items have already made it into our home.

  

 

We collected several mashrabiya samples from around the store and laid them out near the entrance.

 

We chose a half dozen pieces to take home and add to the several we already have.  

How will we incorporate them into the library?  

 

I'm thinking they might occupy some space within door frames across the lower part of the shelves, something like this.

  

Suggestions and comments are welcome!

 

More photos at this Flickr Album, of course.

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