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IG_348: Tripartite stucco glass window with geometric ornamentation
(GRC_Athens_BenakiMuseumOfIslamicArt_IG_348)

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Title

Tripartite stucco glass window with geometric ornamentation

Type of Object
Dimensions
141.5 x 51 x 3.5 cm
Artist / Producer
Place of Manufacture
Dating
early 13th–early 14th centuries AH / 19th century CE (?)
Location
Inventory Number
20959
Research Project
Author and Date of Entry
Francine Giese, Sophie Wolf 2025

Iconography

Description

Rectangular stucco and glass window composed of three fields with ornamental decoration. The centre field shows an almond-shaped, orange-coloured opening framed by two bands featuring single-arch shapes, and a third of alternating single- and double-arch shapes. The two flanking fields show the motif of an eight-pointed double star inscribed within a circle. The spaces between the points of the star are filled with red, petal-like forms.

The stars as well as the central motif are set within a background of more or less regularly spaced perforations.

Iconclass Code
48A981 · ornament ~ geometric motifs
48A9815 · ornament ~ starforms
Iconclass Keywords

Materials, Technique and State of Preservation

Materials

Coarse-grained (yellowish) gypsum plaster; colourless glass (partly with a greyish tint); coloured glass (three shades of green, four shades of blue, three shades of yellow, including a bright-orange piece replaced in 2003); several shades of red flashed glass

Technique

Latticework carved into a rectangular stucco panel and inlaid with colourless and coloured sheet glass. The pieces of glass are fixed on the back of the lattice with a thin layer of gypsum plaster 0.5–1.5mm thick. The average thickness of the stucco panel is approximately 23mm. The stucco panel was cast in a wooden frame.

The design of the latticework has two levels: the main motif (level 0) has been carved out of the stucco panel using sharp, knife-like tools and following a template incised in the surface of the panel. Traces of the incisions are still visible in some places on the front. The second level (level –1) shows irregularly spaced, slightly conical perforations that were pierced with a metal or wooden pin in the stucco before it was fully set. The holes are 10–20mm in diameter and slightly tapered towards the back. All holes are backed with colourless glass. The main design and the perforations have been worked in such a way that the incident light is directed downwards into the room.

The glass is either colourless or coloured in the mass; the red pieces are red flashed glass. Concentric structures on the surface of individual pieces are reminiscent of crown glass. Other pieces of glass show elongated, parallel bubbles like those observed in broad-sheet glass. Scratch marks along the edges of some pieces are traces of a glass cutter.

State of Preservations and Restorations

The window is well preserved and was thoroughly restored in 2003. During this intervention, earlier repairs such plaster fillers and metal reinforcements were removed. The restoration measures included the removal of the 2–3mm-thick coat of red paint; cleaning the 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 80% of the original pieces of glass were preserved. Missing pieces were replaced with new ones, which were attached with cellulose nitrate.

History

Research

While there are several examples of the star motif in Western museums (see for instance IG_166, IG_186, IG_353), the almond-shaped ornament in the centre of the window is not present in any of the collections studied.

From a technical point of view, it can be assumed that the window 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, its relatively good state of preservation suggests that it was made in the 19th rather than in the 16th or 17th century. If the window had been installed in a building and been exposed to outside conditions for two or three centuries, we would have expected it to be more heavily weathered before its restoration in 2003.

While part of the sheet glass may have been recycled from locally produced crown glass (purple glass), the majority of the glass used in this window may have come from European glassworks, as according to the Hungarian architect Max Herz (1856–1819), the production of sheet glass in Egypt had come to a standstill in the 19th century (Herz, 1902, p. 53). This is supported by the fact that many of the pieces of glass show structures that suggest that the glass was produced using the broad-sheet method. This technique was uncommon in the Islamic world at that time and more commonly used in Europe.

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.

Dating
early 13th–early 14th centuries AH / 19th century CE (?)
Period
1800 – 1899
Previous Locations
Place of Manufacture

Provenance

Owner
Since 1940 (ca.): Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, Inventory Number: 20959, Athens (Greece), Donation
Previous Owner
From [year of reception unknown] until 1940 (ca.): Tanos, Phokion J.

Bibliography and Sources

Literature

Ballian, Anna (ed.) (2006): Benaki Museum. A Guide to the Museum of Islamic Art, Athens, Benaki Museum, pp. 136–137.

Herz, M. (1902). Le musée national du Caire. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 3. Pér. 28, 45–59, 497–505.

Image Information

Name of Image
GRC_Athens_BenakiMuseumOfIslamicArt_IG_348
Credits
© 2023 by Benaki Museum Athens

Citation suggestion

Giese, F., & Wolf, S. (2025). Tripartite stucco glass window with geometric ornamentation. In Vitrosearch. Retrieved December 5, 2025 from https://vitrosearch.ch/objects/2713192.

Record Information

Reference Number
IG_348