Rectangular stucco and glass window with floral ornamentation arranged symmetrically along the central vertical and horizontal axis. In the centre of the window is a six-petalled flower surrounded by four three-petalled flowers and eight leaves. The corners are decorated with three-petalled blossoms. The floral motif is traversed by four curved blue bands that form a circular frame around the central flower motif and enclose the flowers in the corners.

Coarse-grained gypsum; colourless glass (with a greenish or greyish tint); coloured glass (two shades of green, three shades of blue, yellow, orange red). Replaced glass: clear glass with satin finish, blue opalescent glass, bright-orange transparent glass.

The stucco latticework shows a few fissures and minor losses, but is generally intact. There are signs of earlier restorations. These repairs involved filling losses in the latticework, refixing loose pieces of glass, and supplementing the thin plaster layer in which the pieces of glass are embedded.

There are traces of black paint on the front of the frame.

Ornamental stucco and glass windows of this type were widespread in the Ottoman period. Usually, these windows show a strictly symmetrical design, with the centre of the panel being occupied by the main motif, which can be a star or a flower. In the collections studied, the star predominates over the flower motif (see for instance LG_166 (lower part), IG_350 (lower part), IG_353, IG_356 (upper part)).

The window discussed here was produced according to the traditional method used in the manufacture of qamariyyāt in North Africa to this day (see Technique). According to the museum records, the window dates to the 18th century. We assume however that the window was made at a later date, possibly around the time it was acquired by Robert Ware (see below). One reason for this hypothesis is the good state of preservation of the stucco lattice, which would have shown clearer signs of weathering if it had been installed and exposed to the elements for a longer period before purchase. Another reason for a later dating is the use of cylinder-blown flat glass (also called broad-sheet). In the Islamic world, sheet glass was usually produced using the crown-glass process, while in Europe, the broad sheet-method was the dominant technique to manufacture flat glass. The Hungarian architect Max Herz (1856–1819) states that sheet glass was imported to Egypt from Europe from the 19th century, because local production had come to a standstill (Herz, 1902, p. 53).

A hand-written letter dated 22 May 1893 to Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832–1904), the then director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York provides information on the provenance of the window. The author of this letter, the American architect William Robert Ware (1832–1915), writes that he had acquired this and various other windows in the spring of 1890 from several well-known art and antiquity dealers in Cairo. He mentions [Gaspare] Giuliana, [E. M.] Malluk, [Nicolas?] Tano, and [Panayotis] Kyticas (on their commercial activities see Volait, 2021, pp. 60–64). In his letter, Ware further states that he was told that the windows ‘had been taken from old houses’ and ‘from old mosques, that had been dismantled’, but that he was not able to get ‘any precise information as to their original places’ (Ware, 1893).

In 1893, Ware donated this window as part of a lot of 17 qamariyyāt (IG_169, IG_171–186) to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Ware, 1893).

Illustrated in: Jenkins, 1986, title page.