Moorish style in 19th century secular interior design

The 19th century fascination with culture and art of the Orient was revealed not only in painting and literature but also in interior design. Among oriental decorations one can single out a few style tendencies, with Moorish style inspired with art of Islamic countries as one of them. Fashion for this style affected both royal residences, public edifices and bourgeois apartments. Moorish style was applied in decoration of theatres, circuses, concert halls, casinos, restaurants, cafes, baths, swimming pools, and brothels as well. In private interiors oriental decoration was used in living rooms, billiard parlours, smoking rooms and bathrooms. Collector’s houses and artists’ ateliers too were arranged following Moorish mode. In the 19th century Moorish style was associated with ease, leisure and entertainment originated in Eastern countries; it also expressed fascinations, sentiments and memories of the Orient. Eastern ornaments encouraged irregular, asymmetric, bizarre and surprising arrangements, and combinations of various materials and colors. Interiors decorated this way created atmosphere of extraordinariness and wealth, and surrounded their owners with the impression of mystery or prestige