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IG_349: three-partite qamarīya with flower decor in the middle field and two flower branches at the sides
(GRC_Athens_BenakiMuseumOfIslamicArt_IG_349)

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Titre

Tripartite stucco glass window with floral ornamentation

Type d'objet
Dimensions
138 x 32 cm (without frame); 146.3 x 41.2 x 4.5 cm (with frame)
Artiste
Lieu de production
Datation
early 13th–early 14th centuries AH / 19th century CE (?)
Lieu
Numéro d'inventaire
11059
Projet de recherche
Auteur·e et date de la notice
Francine Giese, Sophie Wolf 2025

Iconographie

Description

Wide rectangular stucco and glass window composed of three ornamental fields. The centre field consists of three pairs of eight-petalled flowers in yellow, blue, yellow. The flowers are set in square frames. The background colours of each pair of flowers are pink, dark red, and pink. Each of the two fields flanking the flowers show floral motif mirroring that opposite and consisting of a lily with nine symmetrically arranged, multi-coloured blossoms springing from a peduncle. The peduncle emerges from the lower outer corner and extends more or less horizontally across the entire field. The motif is worked out in relief against a perforated background that lies 7–10mm below the surface of the stucco panel.

Code Iconclass
25G41 · fleurs
25G41(LILY) · fleurs : lis
Mot-clés Iconclass
fleur · lis

Matériaux, technique et état de conservation

Matériaux

Coarse-grained, partially porous (with round pores) gypsum plaster; colourless glass with a slightly greyish-green tint; coloured glass (several shades of green, three shades of blue, three shades of yellow, several shades of pink); two shades of red flashed glass, one of which is from the 2003 restoration)

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. The average thickness of the stucco panel is 18–20mm. 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 with sharp, knife-like tools 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), which lies 7–10mm below level 0, shows irregularly spaced, conical perforations, which were pierced with a metal or wooden pin in the stucco before it was fully set. The holes are 10–15mm in diameter and slightly tapered towards the back. The distance between the holes is 1–10mm. All holes are backed with colourless glass.

Except for the red pieces of glass, which are flashed, the glass is either colourless or coloured in the mass. Elongated parallel bubbles indicate that the glass sheets were mouth-blown, possibly using the broad-sheet method. Some of the purple pieces of glass, however, show concentric structures (grooves), suggesting that the sheet glass from which these pieces were cut was blown using the crown-glass method.

Etat de conservation et restaurations

The window is well preserved and was thoroughly restored in 2003. During this intervention, earlier repairs were largely removed. The restoration measures included 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 60% of the original pieces of glass were preserved. Missing pieces were replaced with new ones, which were attached with cellulose nitrate.

Historique de l'oeuvre

Recherche

The floral motifs used in this stucco and glass window, i.e., the eight-petalled flowers and the flowering stem, are common in Islamic arts. There are, however, no comparable examples in which the two motifs are combined in this way. In addition, the roughly horizontal depiction of the peduncle is rather unusual. Commonly, the flowers are shown growing vertically upwards.

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 late Ottoman period, most probably in the 19th 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.

Datation
early 13th–early 14th centuries AH / 19th century CE (?)
Période
1800 – 1899
Sites antérieures
Lieu de production

Provenance

Propriétaire
Dès 1940 (ca.): Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, Numéro d'inventaire: 11059, Athènes (Grèce), Donation
Propriétaire précédent·e
De [année de réception inconnue] jusque 1940 (ca.): Tanos, Phokion J.

Bibliographie et sources

Bibliographie

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.

Expositions

since 2004: Room III of the premanent exhibition of the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, Athens

Informations sur l'image

Nom de l'image
GRC_Athens_BenakiMuseumOfIslamicArt_IG_349
Crédits photographiques
© 2023 by Benaki Museum Athens

Proposition de citation

Giese, F., & Wolf, S. (2025). Tripartite stucco glass window with floral ornamentation. Dans Vitrosearch. Consulté le 5 décembre 2025 de https://vitrosearch.ch/objects/2713193.

Informations sur l’enregistrement

Numéro de référence
IG_349