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IG_166: Bipartite stucco and glass window with flowers in a vase and flower and star motif
(Suede_Stockholm_Medelhavsmuseet_IG_166)

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Title

Bipartite stucco and glass window with flowers in a vase and flower and star motif

Type of Object
Artist / Producer
Place of Manufacture
Dating
Early 12th–early 14th century AH / 18th–19th century AD

Iconography

Description

This rectangular stucco and glass window consists of two motifs, one above the other.

The upper part of the panel shows five flowers in bloom in a vase; the motif is mirrored along the central axis. Despite the stylized depiction of the flowers, carnations and tulips can easily be recognized. The vase is worked out in relief against a perforated background. It is framed by a polylobed arch lined by small round holes. The spandrels above the arch show a simple geometric ornamentation composed of squares and triangles.

The lower part of the panel shows a geometric ornamentation composed of a sixteen-pointed star enclosing an eight-petalled flower. The star is framed by petals and holes. The four spandrels are decorated with triangles that are also surrounded by small holes.

The window is preserved in its original wooden frame.

Iconclass Code
25G41 · flowers
25G41(CARNATION) · flowers: carnation
25G41(TULIP) · flowers: tulip
41A6711 · flowers in a vase
48A981 · ornament ~ geometric motifs
48A9815 · ornament ~ starforms
48A9833 · flowers ~ ornament
Iconclass Keywords

Technique / State

State of Conservation and Restorations

The stucco and glass window is preserved in its original wooden frame. The latticework is mostly intact. There are some losses to the vase and tulip in the centre. About 30% of the pieces of glass are missing – mostly larger pieces in the spandrels above the arch and in the petals around the flower and star motif.

The comparison of the present window with a photograph of it from 1897 suggests that it has been restored, possibly shortly before or after entering the collection of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm in 1899. This restoration involved the replacement of lost pieces of glass. At an unknown date, maybe at the same time, a large vertical crack running through the centre of the panel was glued with a light glossy adhesive. Smaller losses and fissures have been repaired with a grey repair plaster, and the original frame has been reinforced with softwood strips, which are fixed with screws to the original frame.

Technique

Latticework carved into a rectangular stucco panel and inlaid with pieces of colourless and coloured sheet glass. The pieces of glass are fixed on the back of the lattice with a thin layer of gypsum plaster. The thickness of the stucco panel is c.27mm; the plaster layer embedding the pieces of glass has an average thickness of 2mm.

The design of the latticework has three levels: the top level (level 0) comprises the contour line of the polylobe arch of the upper motif and the contour of the round frame of the lower motif. On the second level (level –1), which lies c.2–6mm below level 0, are the main motifs with their ‘dotted’ inner frames and the decor of the spandrels. The third level (level –2), lying c.13–16mm below level 0, consists of regularly spaced, conical perforations. They have diameters of c.10mm and are slightly tapered towards the back. The distances between the holes ranges between 2 and 5mm. The main design and the perforations have been worked in such a way that the incident light is slightly directed downwards into the room. At an unknown date, the edge of the front side of the latticework was painted with a reddish brown paint.

The motifs have been carved out of the stucco panel with a sharp, knife-like tool following a template incised in the surface of the panel. The holes were pierced with a metal or wooden pin in the stucco that had not yet fully set.

The holes are each backed with small pieces of colourless, light-yellow, and amber-coloured glass. Green, turquoise, blue, purple, yellow, and flashed-red glass was used in the floral and geometric motifs. Small, elongated bubbles as well as uneven surfaces indicate that the glass sheets were mouth-blown. The bubbles run parallel; some pieces show straight edges with a round profile indicating that the sheet glass was produced using the briad-sheet method. The turquoise glass shows spindle-shaped bubbles as well as concentric lines on the surface, which are common features of crown glass.

The pieces of glass were cut according to the design of the latticework using a diamond cutter, leaving scratch marks on some of them. The colourless and the coloured glass have an average thickness of 1.5mm.

History

Research

This stucco and glass window is a rare example of a completely preserved specimen, where the individual motifs that traditionally make up such windows have not been cut apart. Both motifs are standard for the qamariyyāt that were widespread in Egypt during the Ottoman period. The upper motif stands out from the majority of windows of the same type, on account of the precise cutting of the latticework. It shows flowers in a vase, a widespread motif in Islamic decorative arts across numerous media, such as ceramics, wood panelling, wall paintings, textiles, and stucco and glass windows, and over a long period of time, in both sacred and profane contexts. Depending on the quality of the representation, the flower species depicted (carnations, lilies, roses, tulips) are not always recognizable. Among the most sophisticated examples are the stucco and glass windows from the apartments of the Crown Prince at the Topkapı Sarayı (early 17th century, date of the windows uncertain) and the Sultan’s Lodge (hünkâr kasrı) of the Yeni Cami (1661–1663, date of the windows uncertain), both in Istanbul.

Windows with the same motif can be found in several of the collections studied (see for instance IG_7, IG_178, IG_255, IG_356). The representation of flowers in a vase also aroused the interest of Western artists and architects, as is attested by a significant number of book illustrations, sketches, and paintings (see for instance IG_43, IG_118, IG_149, IG_153, IG_437, IG_443, IG_461), as well as by the replicas of such windows installed in Arab-style interiors across Europe (IG_48, IG_49, IG_57–IG_59, IG_64, IG_91, IG_431).

The lower motif with its sixteen-point star enclosing an eight-petalled flower shows a well documented motif as well. Similar compositions are held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (IG_186) and (in a slightly different version) at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art in Athens (IG_353). They are also illustrated in Gustave Le Bon’s La Civilisation des Arabes of 1884 (IG_192) and depicted in several sketches and paintings (see for instance IG_104, IG_118, IG_444). Symmetrically designed flowers and stars are a recurring element in Islamic ornamentation across time and media. However, the insertion of a flower within a star is uncommon in the western Islamic world (al-Andalus and Maghreb), where star ornamentation is always restricted to purely geometric forms (IG_170, IG_363, IG_364, IG_366).

Before entering the collection of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm in 1899, the stucco and glass window formed part of the collection of Islamic art belonging to Frederik Robert Martin (1868–1933). It was presented together with other stucco and glass windows in an exhibition dedicated to Martin’s collection at the General Art and Industrial Exposition of Stockholm in 1897 (Martins Sammlung 1897). A photograph published in the exhibition catalogue (IG_403, IG_405) shows a window of the same design, which may very likely be the window discussed here. According to the catalogue, the window depicted originates from a mosque in Cairo and dates to the 16th century (Martins Sammlung 1897, p. 7). However, the stated origin and date must be questioned for various reasons: The outline of the polylobed arch is reminicent of the so-called Ottoman Baroque, emerged in the mid-18th century, and the design of the spandrels refers to a new type of stucco and glass windows, which was introduced in Istanbul around the same period and is characterised by large pieces of colourless and coloured glass. Even though it can be assumed that the Stockholm window was made in a workshop in Egypt, the apparent influences from the Ottoman capital support a dating to the 18th or 19th century. Also the good state of preservation of the window argues against its dating to the 16th century. The latticework and the frame lack any trace of weathering, which would have occurred if the window had actually been installed in a Cairene mosque for more than three centuries.

In the photograph of 1897, most of the pieces of glass are missing. If the window depicted is identical with the window discussed here, then the lost pieces must have been replaced with new glass shortly before or after the window entered the collection of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. Most of the pieces of glass show elongated parallel bubbles suggesting that the sheet glass was produced using the broad-sheet method. On some pieces, the straight edges of the rectangular glass sheets are preserved, corroborating this hypothesis. However, the turquoise pieces of glass show concentric lines that are characteristic features of glass produced using the crown glass process, a technique that was predominant in the Islamic world up to the 19th century. It is therefore possible that this piece is original and that the glass as well as the window were produced in Egypt.

Dating
Early 12th–early 14th century AH / 18th–19th century AD
Period
1700 – 1899
Previous Location
Place of Manufacture
Owner

since 1899 Nationalmuseum of Stockholm, deposit at the Medelhavsmuseet Stockholm

Previous Owner

Frederik Robert Martin, ?-1898

Inventory Number
NM 0127/1899

Bibliography and Sources

Literature

(1897). F. R. Martins Sammlung aus dem Orient in der Allgemeinen Kunst- und Industrie-Ausstellung zu Stockholm 1897,Königl. Buchdruckerei P. A. Norstedt & Söner.

Herz M. (1902). Le musée national du Caire. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 28(3), 45–59.

Exhibitions

1897: General Art and Industrial Exposition, Stockholm / Since 2013 exhibited in the section "Egypt" at Medelhavsmuseet Stockholm.

Image Information

Name of Image
Suede_Stockholm_Medelhavsmuseet_IG_166
Credits
© Medelhavsmuseet, Box 16008, S-10321 Stockholm, Sweden. Fotograf/Photographer Ove Kaneberg.
Date
2014
Owner

since 1899 Nationalmuseum of Stockholm, deposit at the Medelhavsmuseet Stockholm

Inventory

Reference Number
IG_166
Author and Date of Entry
Francine Giese 2024; Franziska Niemand 2024; Sophie Wolf 2024

Linked Objects and Images

Linked Objects
Exhibition view of display case 9 in F. R. Martin's collection at the General Art and Industrial Exposition of Stockholm 1897