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1. Manufacture of the panels anywhere at the considered to be museum pieces by experts.
site, or elsewhere at anytime. The multicolour ornamentation was a pop­
2. Being of limited area master masons can ular form of decoration used in the girly
develop more sophisticated designs. systems of house construction, and it is still in
3. Does not depend greatly on the completion use today. It was primarily used to decorate
of the area to be ornamented before casting doors, windows and soffit of beams. It was
of the panel begins. utilized less extensively on walls and ceilings.
In the mud houses the wall surfaces were The designs used in the ornamentation were
strengthened first with a layer of hard, light infinite in variety, conveying the artist’s impres­
brown clay and then covered with the plaster. sion in geometrical form and executed with
The designs in the plaster were cut by the uniformity and harmonious presentation. Bril­
master mason to a depth that exposed the first liant dyes, including red, black, blue, yellow,
layer of the brown clay. The plaster ornamenta­ green and pink, were used in painting the
tions were executed in horizontal bands each arabesque designs on the outside face of the
of which had its own pattern. It commenced wooden window shutters and doors, while
at three feet from the floor and covered the simpler designs were used on the inside face.
whole wall. In many eases, broad bands of the The multicolour design in its simplest form
brown mud wall were left exposed between the included just a line of red and yellow dots or,
patterns. Such band variations provided an in its elaborate form, contained a semi-circle in
attractive and most delightful embellishment. yellow with three or four almond shapes in red
Wood carvings, as a form of decoration, and blue. Romboids and circles in brilliant
were employed mostly 'on wooden doors and blue and red were also employed as a domina­
the woodwork of the ra’wa’shicn. Such or­ ting figure of the design. Other forms of the
namentations were worked in teakwood, ornamentation included painted dots grouped
expressing artistic carvings that revealed exqui­ together to form a square or triangle resembling
site details, Many doors and ra’wa’shicn a mosaic decoration. Different colours from
panelling were so finely executed that they are those around it were used for each of the

Syadi House - A rich pearl merchant's house Sakhir - Founded over 100 years ago by the
Grandfather of the present Amir of
Bahrain.
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