Research
This drawing made by Henry Young Darracott Scott (1822–1883) and dated 1866 shows the stucco and glass window designed by the British architect James William Wild (1814–1892) for the Oriental Courts of the South Kensington Museum in London.
Colonel (and later Mayor-General) Scott was appointed Director of New Works of the South Kensington Museum in 1865 and therefore responsible for the further expansion of the museum. Wild was working as one of his architects, designing several parts of the new buildings (Bethnal Green Museum, Science Schools, Architectural Courts; Physick, 1982, pp. 145, 148, 157). The London-based firm James Powell & Sons executed the window after Wild’s draft (Physick, 1982, p. 82; Thomas, 2013, pp. 54–56; Giese, 2021, p. 97). While the only watercolour preserved by Wild himself shows the middle panel (IG_435), Scott’s drawing, annotated ‘Mr Wild’s Window’, shows the construction of the whole window, with the mashrabīya screen below.
The corresponding windows are preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum (MES.LOST.35, MES.LOST.21, MES.LOST.20).
Dating
1866
Place of Manufacture