Mosaic Pavement

Pavement decoration showing geometric patterns and circular motifs. This plate is commented on by the author as follows:

The apartment, which is paved with this elegant mosaic, is usually called El Tocador, or the Dressing Room of the Sultana : it is a cabinet about six feet square, with a window on each side, surrounded with a balcony three feet broad, whose roof is supported at intervals by columns of white marble. The prospect which this closet commands is truly enchanting. In one of its corners, there is a large square marble flag, perforated with holes, through which, it is said, the fragrant essences ascended from the chamber beneath, to perfume the person of the Sultana. By some antiquarians, however, this room is supposed to have been the oratory of the palace, from the inscriptions which decorate it, and also from the circumstance of the principal window fronting the east. But, whatever was the real design of the present apartment, the effect of its mosaic pavement is very rich: the gold, black, scarlet, green, and blue colours, are admirably combined.