Set of Six Damascene Marquetry and Mother-of-Pearl Coasters with Fitted Caddy, Syria, c. 1940–1970

The Piece

Six square coasters in Damascene mosaic marquetry, with the fitted caddy they were made for. Every coaster is built from hundreds of individual tesserae — slivers of bone, dark hardwood, rust-brown and green-stained wood, and mother-of-pearl — cut, bundled, and laid into a design of banded borders enclosing a field of eight-pointed stars.

The work rewards close looking. Concentric frames of black-and-white barber-pole banding step inward to a nested square, and the center holds a lattice of red-brown stars, each one carrying a tiny green-and-white triangular device at its heart, all floating on a ground of iridescent shell. Turn a coaster to the light and that ground shifts through pink, green, and silver while the geometry stays fixed — which is exactly what the technique is for.

The caddy repeats the same vocabulary at a different scale: checkerboard banding around the rim, star cartouches on each face, a scalloped front cut low so the stack can be lifted out, and a deep lacquered interior. Set together they read as one object rather than a coaster set with a box thrown in.

History & Provenance

This is Damascus work — the mosaic marquetry that has been the signature craft of the Syrian capital for centuries, and a direct cousin of Persian khatam-kari. The method is remarkable: the maker assembles slender rods of contrasting material into a bundle whose cross-section is the finished motif, glues the bundle solid, then slices it into wafer-thin sheets, each one carrying the complete pattern. Those sheets are laid onto a wooden carcass and polished flat. It is mass production and virtuosity at the same time, invented centuries before anyone thought of a factory.

The geometric vocabulary here — eight-pointed stars, interlaced bands, endlessly repeating fields — belongs to the Islamic decorative tradition, where pattern rather than figure carries the meaning, and it appears on Damascus furniture, doors, boxes, and backgammon boards alike. Sets like this one were made through the middle of the twentieth century for the domestic market and for travelers, and they came home in suitcases from Damascus, Cairo, and Bethlehem. Complete sets that still have their original caddy are far less common than the loose coasters that turn up alone.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

Coasters are the one accessory guests actually pick up and turn over, which makes them worth getting right. These do the practical job and then reward the second look — the pattern is intricate enough that people ask about it. Keep the caddy on a bar cart, a coffee table, a desk, or a side table and the set reads as a small piece of decorative art even when nobody is drinking. The palette of cream, black, rust, and shell sits beautifully against walnut, brass, leather, and dark paint.

A note on care: this is wood, bone, and shell over a wooden base, so it does not love water. Wipe spills promptly with a barely damp cloth, dry immediately, and never soak or wash them. Keep the set out of direct sun, which fades the stained woods and dulls the shell, and away from radiators and heating vents — dry heat is what lifts individual tesserae. An occasional touch of clear furniture wax buffed gently keeps the surface fed and the pieces tight.