Rectangular stucco and glass window with floral ornamentation consisting of round, six-petalled flowers enclosed in hexagonal frames arranged in a regular grid. The corners of the hexagons are marked by red circles divided by a central line.

Coarse-grained gypsum plaster; coloured glass (several shades of light blue, several shades of red ranging from light to dark purplish red, yellow, and green). The blue and red glass is slightly streaky in places.

The window was thoroughly restored in 2003 and is well preserved. During the restoration, earlier repairs were largely removed. The measures included cleaning the dirty and weathered surface of the stucco lattice (laser cleaning, density: 1.5 J/cm2 at 1064nm), bonding cracks with acrylic resin, and filling lacunae in the stucco lattice with acrylic filler. The repairs were retouched with pigmented acrylic emulsion. In addition, fragile areas were strengthened with gauze and acrylic resin. The original wooden frame was cleaned with solvent and reinforced by adding an aluminium frame. At the time of restoration, around 90% of the original glass was preserved. Missing pieces were replaced with new ones, which were attached with cellulose nitrate.

This stucco and glass window shows the characteristics of Islamic ornamentation. The regular layout of repeating elements creates a repetitive surface decoration. The geometric arrangement of the basic elements is strictly maintained. The British architect James William Wild (1814–1892) documented a similar window with a comparable, but slightly simpler design during his stay in Cairo in the years 1844–1847 (IG_439). There are no other examples of such ornamental windows in the collections studied within this project.

From a technical point of view, it can be assumed that the window discussed here was made in an Egyptian workshop. Although the rear of the window was not accessible during our examination, it can be concluded from the restoration report of 2004 that the window was made according to the traditional technique used in the manufacture of qamariyyāt in North Africa to this day (see Technique).

According to the museum records, the window dates to the 16th or 17th century. However, there are some indications that speak against this early date. On the one hand, the abstract design of the spandrels suggests a later dating. On the other hand, the window was in a relatively good state of preservation before restoration in 2003, despite the poor weather resistance of the stucco lattice. If the window had been installed in a building in the 16th or 17th century and been exposed to the weather for two or three centuries, we would have expected it to be more heavily weathered before restoration. Moreover, the pieces of glass show the characteristics of cylinder-blown sheet glass, a technique that was uncommon in the Islamic world at that time and more commonly used in Europe. Interestingly, the Hungarian architect Max Herz (1856–1819) states in 1902 that sheet glass was imported to Egypt from Europe from the 19th century, because local sheet-glass production had come to a standstill (Herz, 1902, p. 53).

The Cairo-based, Cypriot art and antique dealer Phokion Tanos (1898–1972) donated this window – along with 12 other qamariyyāt (11049–11059, 20969, 20960, see IG_336–359), to the Benaki Museum in Athens, probably in the 1940s.