The foyer’s ceiling was custom-made for Shangri La by Moroccan artisans working under the supervision of the Rabat-based firm S.A.L.A.M. René Martin. Photographs preserved in the Shangri La Historical Archives document the fabrication of this ceiling, as well as other wood and plaster architectural elements (doors, balustrades, screens, spandrels, friezes) in Morocco. The Moroccan commissions were Doris Duke’s second major campaign as a patron of “living” artisanal craftsmanship in the Islamic world (the first being the Mughal Suite ordered in India during the 1935 honeymoon).
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