Stonework arch, spandrels, and wall panel

Late Ottoman–period Damascene homes include a variety of architectural elements—windows, doors, cupboards, niches—topped by low arches. This beautiful stonework arch, with a pattern of large rosettes in an undulating scroll, was originally part of a reception room (generally known as a qa‘a, or hall, in Arabic) of a late Ottoman–period home in Damascus known as the “Quwatli” house. As confirmed by photographs preserved in the Shangri La Historical Archives, the arch was located above the room’s entrance, through which one would have walked outside into a sun-lit courtyard with a large fountain, lush foliage and fragrant trees. In this original context, the stone arch was separated from the smaller stone spandrels above by geometric designs in a pastework technique known as ablaq, in which a thin coating of plaster was applied over stone, shapes were cut out of this substrate, and colored pastes were then poured into the voids. The DDFIA collection includes several examples of pastework and stonework arches from the so-called Quwatli house.