Islamic geometric strapwork, the Persian word means knot: interlaced bands weaving over and under through stars of five, six, eight, ten or twelve points. It emerges around the year 1000 and is built with compass and straightedge or from a small set of tiles, in stone, plaster, wood and glazed tile.
A way to fill any surface with pattern that never repeats a figure. In 2007 the two-scale pattern at Darb-e Imam in Isfahan was shown to be quasi-crystalline, five centuries before mathematics had the word. Turquoise, cobalt and white are the glazes of the region.
At every lattice point an eight-point star is made of a square and a diamond; neighbouring diamonds overlap so the straps link. Which strap passes over is decided by region parity, counting how many loops contain a point. The figure stands on a plain floor strip in front of the panel, never on it.
No script. The figure never stands on the pattern, which would read as walking on a mosque floor.