Metal engraving

Moroccan dinanderie covers three distinct crafts: nqach (engraving and chasing on copper), damascening (inlay of gold and silver threads into a steel plate), and filigree (braided-silver goldsmithing). Each mobilises a workshop, tools and a school. The trilogy is concentrated in Fès — capital of copper —, in Meknès — historic capital of damascening — and in Tétouan, where the Andalusian school has transmitted its floral motifs since the 15th century.

i. Copper — the dinanderie of Fès

The Seffarine square, east of the Fès medina, has concentrated the dinanderie workshops since the 12th century. The dinandiers have hammered tea trays, teapots, lanterns and vases there for more than eight hundred years. The work begins with a sheet of red copper, heated, pushed from the back (repoussé technique), then chased with a burin. The engraving follows a rigorous score: a rosette centre, friezes, Kufic and thuluth calligraphies, stylised plant motifs.

ii. Damascening of Meknès

Imported from Andalusia in the 15th century, perfected under Moulay Ismaïl in the 17th, damascening consists of inlaying gold or silver threads into a blackened steel plate. The artisan hollows with a needle the grooves that will receive the thread, then hammers it into the cavity, drives it in, polishes it. The contrast between the fine gold and the dark metal gives damascened daggers, caskets and dishes their characteristic brilliance.

iii. Filigree of Essaouira and Tiznit

Distinct from dinanderie proper, silver filigree works twisted threads of 0.1–0.5 mm section, soldered into openwork motifs. Essaouira was long a filigree centre tied to the local Jewish community; Tiznit, in the Souss, remains today the living capital of the craft, with some thirty active workshops at Bab El Mâader.

iv. Transmission

The 2023 UNESCO inscription aims precisely to protect a fragile chain of transmission: the majority of the dinandier maâlems are now over sixty, and the craft suffers from competition from cheap Asian imports. The Fès Vocational Qualification Centre for Crafts trains some twenty apprentices a year, but attrition remains high.

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