Polychrome marble mosaic decorated interior walls of both religious institutions and palaces in Egypt and Syria during the Mamluk period. This example, from an unknown building, probably once adorned the lower register of a wall, but similar mosaic also appears on mihrabs, spandrels, and even cenotaphs of the period. The interlocking slabs in contrasting colors bordering the mosaic, and the rectangular base‑board panels below it, are also characteristic of Mamluk architectural decoration.