Qa’a: The Damascus Room

Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay Lewis and Dr. Steven Zucker provide a description, historical perspective, and analysis of a Reception Room (Qa’a) from the Ottoman period.

Reception Room (Qa’a), Ottoman period, 1119 AH / 1707 CE, Damascus, Syria, poplar, gesso relief with gold and tin leaf, glazes and paint; cypress, poplar, walnut, black mulberry, mother-of pearl, marble and other stones, stucco with glass, plaster, ceramic tiles, iron, brass, 22 feet and a 1/2 inch high × 16 feet, 8-1/2 inches deep × 26 feet, 4-3/4 inches long, Metropolitan Museum of Art.