Rectangular stucco and glass window showing floral ornamentation structured by intertwined laces in blue that form a central oval shape ending in two knots. The spaces between the laces are filled with different flowers, including a carnation. The flowers are worked out in relief against a perforated background that lies approximately 8mm below the surface of the stucco panel. The floral ornamentation is framed by a semicircular arch. Each spandrels is filled with a triangular piece of red glass.

Coarse-grained gypsum plaster; colourless glass (with a greenish tint); coloured glass (two shades of turquoise green, two shades of blue, two shades of yellow, light pink)

It is well preserved, but the surface of the latticework seems slightly more weathered than those of the stylistically related windows IG_350 and IG 351. The window was thoroughly restored in 2003. During this intervention, the remains of earlier repairs were largely removed. The restoration 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, 90% of the original pieces of glass were preserved. Missing pieces were replaced with new ones, which were attached with cellulose nitrate.

This stucco and glass window was probably produced in Egypt. Apart from the depiction of a closely related window made by the British architect James William Wild (1814–1892) during his stay in Cairo in the years 1844–1847 (IG_445), this type of floral ornamentation is not represented in other museum collections studied within the project. It is a variation of windows IG_350 and IG_352, which are also part of the Benaki collection.

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).

As the stucco latticework shows stronger signs of weathering than the other two windows IG_350 and IG_352, we can assume that it was possibly installed in a building and exposed to the weather for longer. Despite the comparatively clear traces of weathering, however, we doubt that the date of the window given in the museum records (16th or 17th century) is correct and suggest that it was made at a later date, possibly in the 19th century. If the window had been exposed to weather for two or three centuries, we would have expected it to be more heavily deteriorated before its restoration in 2003. Another criterion in favour of a later date of manufacture is the fact that 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.