A PIECE OF THE WHOLE
-FROM THE MOROCCAN (OR MORE PROPERLY SAID FASSI, NATIVE OF FEZ) ART OF ZILLIJ IS THE FURMAH, THE THUMBNAIL SIZE, GEOMETRICALLY SHAPED, CUT AND CHISELED GLAZED TILE THAT, WHEN PIECED TOGETHER WITH OTHERS AND PLACED UPSIDE DOWN, CEMENTED AND LIFTED RIGHTSIDE UP INTO A POLYCHROME MOSAIC, CREATES, SAY, AN EXPLOSIVE MI’INI (100) POINT STAR
-A GRAIN OF SAND, THE TINIEST COMPONENT OF THE SAHARA, ITS “SALTATION” DESCRIBED BY DESERT EXPLORER AND AMATEUR SCIENTIST RALPH BAGNOLD IN HIS CLASSIC PHYSICS OF BLOWN SAND AND DESERT DUNES, FROM RESEARCH CONDUCTED IN A WIND TUNNEL IN ENGLAND TO RECREATE THE CONDITIONS OF THE KHAMSEEN, THE FIFTY DAY WIND COMING FROM THE SOUTH
-A HORSESHOE ARCH IN THE CORDOBA MOSQUE, ONE OF HUNDREDS, THE LAW OF THE PHYSICS OF VECTOR FORCES EXPLAINS WHY IT ADDS STRENGTH TO BEAUTY
-A FARKH, THE LATHE-TURNED, PLUG-SHAPED, THUMB-SIZE WOODEN COMPONENT- a baluster- OF A MASHRABIYA SCREEN, THAT WHEN ERECTED IN OPEN WINDOWS SEPARATES THE INSIDE FROM OUT, WOMEN FROM MEN, THE PRIVATE FROM THE PUBLIC
-A FRAGMENT OF MONUMENTAL CALLIGRAPHIC TILE LIFTED FROM A FRIEZE, OFTEN JUST A PIECE OF A SINGLE WORD, LETTER, OR DIACRITICAL MARK- PERHAPS A SUQUN OR AN ALIF MANQUS, A “DEFICIENT ALIF”- THAT WHEN COMPLETED TOGETHER WITH ITS SISTER PANELS CREATES THE FULL SENSE OF THE SENTENCE, IN CERAMIC
-A CYLINDER SEAL FROM NINEVAH, EACH SEAL A PARTIAL PHRASE IN A LONGER DOCUMENT ABOUT, SAY, COMMERCE OR LAW, OR PERHAPS A WARNING OR AN ADMONITION- “THIS LAND IS PROTECTED BY FURROW WORK”
-A HEMISTICH, OR HALF-LINE OF PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIC POETRY, THE BUILDING BLOCK OF A QASIDA, AS IN THE MU’ALLAQAT OF IMRU AL-QAYS, “STOP O FRIENDS TO WEEP OVER THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED”
