The use of uncarved ivory and wooden panels set within a geometric pattern is typically associated with the work of Egyptian woodworkers of the late Burji Mamluk and early Ottoman period from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Unlike the delicately carved panels of the earlier Mamluks, later woodworkers adopted the tradition of intarsia (inlaid) work, which embraced bold forms of contrasting colours achieved through the use of ebony and either bone or ivory. The epistemological root of the word intarsia derives from ‘tarsi’, the Arabic word for incrustation. This type of decoration witnessed a long and distinguished history in al-Andalus (southern Spain) from the tenth century, as seen with the minbar of al-Hakim II commissioned for the Great Mosque of Cordoba; from there the technique is believed to have spread north into Italy, and then possibly east into Mamluk Egypt. While this intricate and detailed decorative technique became a characteristic of Nasrid woodwork of southern Spain, it remains unknown exactly how and when this pattern arrived into Egypt; given the popularity of bone and ivory inlay work seen in Ottoman objects from the sixteenth century, the technique could have also arrived through Ottoman craftsmen sometime after 1517. Nonetheless, this type of inlay or marquetry work becomes the dominant style of wood decoration from the sixteenth century, replacing almost entirely the carving techniques of the earlier Mamluk woodcarvers.

The arrangement of these panels upon a wooden board reflects a nineteenth century trend of European collecting, and does not reflect the initial context in which these panels would have been used. These panels could have come from different structures, despite the similarity of their technique and decorative style. The rectangular shaped panels would have been used at the top or bottom of a door, while the central eight panel composition may have formed a part of a door for a minbar (Islamic pulpit), mosque, madrasa, or residential property; their decoration is equally suitable for a religious or secular space.