The watercolour House of Radwan Bey by the British painter Frank Dillon (1832–1908) depicts the interior of a Cairene house with two men wearing white turbans. A mashrabiyya and four stucco and glass windows with geometric motifs can be seen in the background. The two windows in the lower row are identical, as are the two in the upper row. The lower windows feature a central star-shaped ornament, and the two rectangular windows above show a more delicate geometric motif. The dominant colours, the red and blue of the glass, are echoed in the men’s robes. Light enters through the mashrabiyya and the coloured windows and creates a play of light and shadow on the wall.

This house depicted by the British painter Frank Dillon was one of several structures built by the influential Radwan Bey in the mid-17th century (Llewellyn, 1998, p. 154). Radwan was a Mamluk bey and the leader of a faction known as the faqariya: he dominated political life in Cairo from 1631 to 1651. For twenty-five years, he held the post of amir al-hajj, commander in charge of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (Williams, 2008, p. 106). Fragments, such as the marble panelling on the walls and the mashrabiyya of Radwan’s mansion survive to this day (Williams, 2008, p. 107). As can be seen from Dillon’s watercolour, there also appear to have been stucco and glass windows with geometric ornamentation in the house.