Girih are decorative Islamic geometric patterns used in architecture and handicraft objects, consisting of angled lines that form an interlaced strapwork pattern.
Girih pattern with inlaid floral decoration from Shah-i-Zinda in Samarkand, Uzbekistan
2nd century Roman mosaic in Roman Theatre at Bosra with curvilinear knot patterns
A window cage at the Topkapı Palace, built with this girih pattern
Detail of Green Mosque, Bursa using this girih pattern
The Topkapı Scroll is a Timurid dynasty patterned scroll in the collection of the Topkapı Palace museum.
Girih
…repeating units of known patterns can be copied as templates, and historic pattern books may have been intended for use in this way. The 15th century Topkapı Scroll explicitly shows girih patterns together with the tilings used to create them. A set of tiles consisting of a dart and a kite shape can be used to…
Two adjacent patterns in the Topkapı Scroll. The cube-like red hexagon in the left pattern is covered in Square Kufic script.
Quarter dome muqarnas - in the form of a seashell (top), in the form of a radial, hand-held fan (bottom)
Hexagon with Kufic scripts of six time Muhammad (Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh) and three time Ali (Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib) in rotational symmetry