The decoration of the larger painted panel consists of interlaced ribbons ending in stylized eyes and hands. Although amulets in the shape of eyes and hands were—and still are—used in the Muslim world to ward off the evil eye, it seems unlikely that this basic symbolic interpretation encompasses the whole meaning of the present work. This is one of a series of panels forming the dado of an entire room, all of which are slightly different but employ the same style and use similar images. They have no parallels outside Nishapur, although they are related to other Nishapur paintings. The narrow panel at the left imitates quarter-sawn marble as used in Byzantine and early Islamic buildings.

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