خاتم

خاتم or "ring" is the name used in zellij making for the eight-pointed star shape.  This shape can be paired with a cross shape to create a simple pattern, and can also be found at the center of many complex star-shaped patterns. The "ring" was one of the first shapes I learned to make at the zellij workshop, and since then I have noticed the shape everywhere, and in many different mediums. 

This painting shows the ring and cross pattern repeated.

I replicated a drawing from the book Architecture of the Islamic World, (George Michel, Thames and Hudson, London 169) which shows the generation of the ring, or eight-pointed star, starting with two rotated squares within a circle.

A mashrabiya screen overlaid with ring design

Detail from a door panel

 A modern wrought-iron fence

Sign-posts signifying various routes throughout the Fez Medina in the shape of the "ring".