Pointed-arch stucco and glass window with a green cypress tree in the centre, surrounded by an S-shaped winding flower tendril with stylized roses and three-petalled flowers. The scale-like pattern usually used to represent the foliage of the cypress is replaced in the upper part by geometric ornament, and the top of the tree is flanked by two leaves. The cypress tree and tendril are framed by a pointed arch and surrounded by a perforated background, which is slightly recessed.

The panel is held in a wooden frame. The front of the grille is painted with red-brown paint. The backside of the window is protected with a 4mm-thick glass pane.

Fine-grained gypsum plaster; colourless glass with a greenish or bluish tint; coloured glass (green, two shades of blue, two shades of orange, purple, red flashed glass); wood; brown paint.

The latticework is broken in two along a crack running across the lower third of the stucco grille. Several pieces of glass are missing. The glass pane, attached to protect the back of the window, is broken in several pieces. There are possible traces of mold in the interspace between the protective glass and the back of the panel.

In the course of its restoration, the stucco window as well as the glass panel protecting its backside, have been taken out of the wooden frame.

From a technical and iconographic point of view, this stucco and glass window corresponds to one of the standard types of qamariyya widespread in Egypt during the Ottoman period. Similar windows can be found in several of the collections studied (see for instance IG_18, IG_173, IG_355). The representation of a cypress tree surrounded by a flower tendril is a widespread motif in Islamic arts. It can be found in numerous other media, such as ceramics, wood panelling, wall paintings, and textiles, over a long period of time, and in both sacred and profane contexts.

Stucco and glass windows of this type are illustrated in 19th- and early 20th-century publications (see for instance IG_42, IG_47). The cypress-tree motif also aroused the interest of Western artists and architects, as is attested by the significant number of sketches and paintings of the motif (IG_118, IG_136, IG_150, IG_153, IG_438, IG_439, IG_468), as well by the replicas of such windows installed in Arab-style interiors across Europe (IG_56, IG_64, IG_427–IG_430).

The French naval officer and novelist Pierre Loti (1850–1923), who had this stucco and glass window installed in the qibla-like eastern wall of the so-called mosque built between 1895 and 1897 in his family’s house at Rochefort (France), was familiar with such windows from his extensive travels. In 1894, he embarked on a journey through Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey and subsequently published his observations and experiences in the trilogy Le désert (1894), Jérusalem (1895),and La Galilée (1896), as well as in the novel La mosquée verte (1896). In Jérusalem (Loti, 1895, p. 72), Loti relates his visit to the Dome of the Rock and pays particular attention to the stucco and glass windows and their luminous effects. He compares them to precious stones, praises the effect of the stucco grille, and describes the angling of the perforations. According to his accounts, Loti visited also traditional residences. He was even received in two reception halls (qāʾa) in Damascus, which are described in La Galilée and later inspired him in relation to his ‘mosque’ at Rochefort (Loti, 1896, pp. 144, 146). In La mosquée verte, he again comments on these windows, this time those in the tomb of Mehmed I in Bursa. After mentioning other furnishings there, such as the ceramic tiles and the carpets, the stucco and glass windows are described as follows: “Des petits vitraux, haut perchés, tout près du dôme, et travaillés autant que des pièces de bijouterie, laissant descendre une lumière changeante, comme filtrée au travers de pierres précieuses.” (Loti, 1896, p. 233).

Owing to the formal, compositional, and technical characteristics of the window, Thierry Liot’s assumption that it too may have belonged to the late 18th-century Damascene house from which the ceiling, mihrab, and woodwork of Loti’s ‘mosque’ at Rochefort are thought to have originated (Liot, 1999, p. 130; see also Giraud-Heraud, 1996, pp. 64–65) has to be rejected. In fact, it is much more likely that this window, together with IG_427, IG_429, and IG_430, is a replica made in France on the basis of IG_426. The pointed-arch form of the stucco panel and the unusual outline of the flower tendrils point to a Western designer, perhaps Loti himself, and the extremely flat surface of the stucco grill is very different from that of windows manufactured in Egypt, including IG_426. While the stucco latticework of traditional Islamic windows such as IG 426 is carved, it seems that the grille of this window was cast; moreover, the pieces of glass used in this window differ from those of IG_426, on account of their regular shape (especially in the border area). These observations support the assumption that the replica was made in France and not in Egypt.

All four replicas were installed in the qibla-like eastern wall of Loti’s ‘mosque’. Like Loti’s other windows, this specimen was protected from the weather on the outward-facing rear side by means of a 4mm-thick pane of glass at an unknown date, but most probably in connection with the window’s installation at Rochefort. The colourless glass of the protective pane has elongated bubbles. It therefore can be assumed that it is mouth-blown, most probably using the broad-sheet method.