Moorish Tessellation 

Various civilizations throughout history have applied the basic geometrical concepts of symmetry and tessellation in their artistic expression, Moorish Tessellations being one of the most representative. The precious designs of Islamic art, achieved through clever choices of color and shapes, represent exquisite examples of the relationship between mathematics and art.

The Islamic resistance to create artistic representation of living things is based on the belief that creation of life is reserved to God. Therefore, their temples contained mainly geometric ornamentation.

The most common geometric patterns that can be distinguished in Islamic art are: circles and interlaced circles, squares or four-sided polygons, the ubiquitous star pattern ultimately derived from squares and triangles inscribed in a circle, and multisided polygons. The complex patterns found on many objects include a number of different shapes and arrangements, allowing them to fit into more than one category.

The following example illustrates the geometrical analysis of the tessellation in a Jalis (pierced screens) which was used extensively in architecture as windows, room dividers, railings around thrones, platforms, terraces, and balconies.

Jali screen (one of a pair), second half of 16th century; Mughal
Probably from Fatehpur Sikri, India
Carved red sandstone

H. 73 1/4 in. (186 cm), W. 51 3/16 in. (130 cm), Th. 3 9/16 in. (9 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1993 (1993.67.2)

Yellow interlaced circles

Green Pentagons tessellation

Blue  hexagon triangle tessellation