Gouache, ink, and shell gold reinterpret the carved stucco that lines the intrados of the 9th-century Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo. A lattice of interlaced bands frames palmette roundels in Nile blues and malachite greens, while a luminous eight-petal rosette glows at centre. Two stylised palace birds perch on the scrolls, softening the Abbasid strapwork, and pencilled construction lines at the margins reveal the ruler-and-compass discipline beneath the lush colour.