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IG_444: Record Drawing of Stained Glass
(GBR_London_VAM_IG_444)

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Title

Stucco and glass windows in the house of Dr. Abbott

Type of Object
Dimensions
21 x 13.5 cm
Artist / Producer
Dating
c. 1845
Location
Inventory Number
E.3713-1938
Research Project
Author and Date of Entry
Sarah Tabbal 2024

Iconography

Description

This pencil and watercolour drawing by the British architect James William Wild (1814–1892) shows five rectangular stucco and glass windows in two rows, of which only three were executed in colour, the other windows only being indicated with fine pencil lines.
In the lower row, three windows can be seen, each consisting of an upper rectangular and a lower square section. At the centre is a window with stylized flowers in a vase, set within an arch; in the square section below, the motif of a flower and star is depicted within a circle. The window is very similar to the central window shown in another drawing by Wild (IG_445). This window is flanked on each side by a window with a lattice ornament featuring flowers in hexagons, also set within an arch; the square section below depicts geometric star ornament with a central stylized blossom. Although that on the right is only indicated in its basic form in fine pencil strokes, it appears to have the same motif as the window on the left, such that the windows are mirror images of each other.
In the upper row, there are two square windows with star ornament; only the left-hand window is coloured.
The space around the windows has been used for enlarged details: in the upper part of the sheet there are hexagons with flowers (seen in the lower left window), and in the lower part of the sheet a stylized red blossom similar to the one in the left-hand window as well as a yellow flower shown in the central window. The artist indicated the perforation of the stucco panel in colour in a detailed manner. Furthermore, Wild has added fine pencil notes for some of the colours in this drawing.

Iconclass Code
25G41 · flowers
41A6711 · flowers in a vase
48A9815 · ornament ~ starforms
Iconclass Keywords
Inscription

white dots / green dots (next to the square window)
green and blue dots alternate (next to the window on the left side)
blue and orange dots (next to the central window)
Vol II / Mr. Abbots rooms (in the bottom right-hand corner of the drawing)

Materials, Technique and State of Preservation

Technique

Pencil and watercolour on paper.

History

Research

The inscription in Wild’s drawing reading ‘Mr. Abbots rooms’ refers to Dr Henry William Charles Abbott (1812–1859), who was a British physician and collector of Egyptian antiquities. He ‘went to Egypt when quite a young man, on a scientific expedition, under the auspices of the British government’ and was ‘for nearly thirty years the only resident English physician in Cairo’ (Littell, 1859, p. 592). He lived in a ‘house in Cairo, filled with his splendid collection’: ‘He began the practice of collecting antiquities as an amusement, and it at length became a passion, so that he devoted his entire surplus income to the museum which he gathered around him, and which became at length one of the finest in the world.’ (Littell, 1859, p. 592). Today, some of the objects of the Abbott Collection are held in the Brooklyn Museum in New York; stucco and glass windows are not among them however. Wild treated windows associated with the name Abbott in several other drawings (IG_438, IG_439, IG_445, IG_447).

Dating
c. 1845
Period
1844 – 1847
Related Locations
Place of Manufacture

Provenance

Owner
Victoria and Albert Museum, Inventory Number: E.3713-1938
Previous Owner

Elizabeth H.M. Wild

Bibliography and Sources

Literature

Littell, E. (1859). Littell’s Living Age. Boston: Littell, Son, and Company.

Image Information

Name of Image
GBR_London_VAM_IG_444
Credits
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Link to the original photo

Citation suggestion

Tabbal, S. (2024). Stucco and glass windows in the house of Dr. Abbott. In Vitrosearch. Retrieved December 5, 2025 from https://www.vitrosearch.ch/objects/2713288.

Record Information

Reference Number
IG_444