1/4 Square Dirham - Muhammad II al-Burtuqali

The Wattasids came to power not through conquest but through a long regency — the dynasty had effectively governed Morocco on behalf of the declining Marinids for decades before Muhammad II al-Burtuqali formally assumed the sultanate in 1472. His epithet "al-Burtuqali" — the Portuguese — reflects the relentless pressure his reign faced from Portuguese coastal incursions, a dynasty defined as much by what it could not hold as by what it ruled.

Cut or cast to fractional weight from larger flans, quarter dirhams of this period were a practical response to the near-collapse of organized mint production under Wattasid administration.