Drawings of Muqarnas from The Topkapi Scroll

The layers containing the word "row" represent the various rows of which the muqarnas consists. The layer "plan" consists of the plan of the muqarnas, and the layer "grid" of the grid organizing the plan. There is also a layer by the name "copy." This contains half of the three-dimensional drawing of the muqarnas.

The historical plan represents a quarter of a muqarnas dome. This was copied to make it a half of a muqarnas dome since these vaults are usually used as half domes.

The drawings are explained in detail in Gulru Necipoglu, The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture (Santa Monica, California: The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1995).

Gulru Necipoglu, The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture (Santa Monica, California: The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1995).

Mohammad Al-Asad