Rectangular stucco and glass window with a representation of an Ottoman mosque. The building is depicted in a reduced way, highlighting the shrine’s main features, i.e., the courtyard, the prayer hall with a central dome crowned by a jamur ending in a crescent moon, and two thin minarets with pointed roofs. Two smaller domes are placed on either side of the main one. As is usual in comparable representations in other media, such as ceramics, the mosque is depicted by combining a front view (prayer hall) and a bird’s eye view (courtyard). Two cypress trees and two blossoming flowers flank the mosque. The whole motif is worked out in relief against a perforated background that lies 6–8mm below the surface of the stucco panel. It is surrounded by a dotted, semicircular frame. The spandrels above the arch show a geometric ornamentation.

Coarse-grained gypsum plaster; colourless glass with a greenish tint; coloured glass (four shades of green, three shades of blue, three shades of yellow (including an orange colour), three shades of purple)

The window was thoroughly restored in 2003 and is well preserved, but the latticework still shows signs of weathering. During this restoration, earlier repairs were largely removed. Among other things, the 2–3mm thick coat of paint on the front of the stucco grille was removed with a scalpel. The restoration measures included cleaning the surface of the stucco lattice (laser cleaning, density: 1.5 J/cm2 at 106 nm), 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 90% of the original pieces of glass were preserved. Missing pieces were replaced with new ones, which were attached with cellulose nitrate.

From an iconographic point of view, the stucco and glass window corresponds to one of the standard types of qamariyya widespread in Egypt during the Ottoman period. A similar window was documented by the British architect James William Wild (1814–1892) during his stay in Cairo in the years 1844–1847 in the mandarah of Beyt Sheikh al-ʿAbbasi al-Mahdi (IG_446). This motif is far less commonly represented in the collections we examined than other motifs. Two of the few examples of this type are preserved at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (IG_184, IG_185).

Representations of mosques can also be found in other media. Most noteworthy are architectural ceramics of the Ottoman period (see for instance, Musée du Louvre, OA 3919/556, OA 3919/558, OA 3919/559; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.337; Victoria and Albert Museum, 427-1900). While in these examples specific shrines such as the Kaaba in Mecca are depicted, the mosques shown in stucco and glass windows are often reduced to their main features. The courtyard, dome(s), and minarets are depicted in a schematic way and most likely do not represent any existing mosque.

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, there are some indications that speak against this early date. On the one hand, the abstract design of the spandrels, reminiscent of 18th–19th-century windows from Istanbul, suggests a later dating. On the other hand, the window was in a relatively good state of preservation before the restoration in 2003, despite the poor weather resistance of the stucco lattice. If the window had been installed in a building in the 16th or 17th century and been exposed to the weather for two or three centuries, we would have expected it to be more heavily weathered before its restoration in 2003. Moreover, the 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.