The design of this stucco and glass window consists of a richly decorated vase with flowers. The vase is flanked by two colourful peacocks, which are surrounded by green tendrils. The flowers in the vase – roses, tulips, carnations, and an unidentified species – are arranged symmetrically along the central axis. The motif is worked out in relief against a perforated background that lies approximately 5mm below the surface of the stucco panel. It is surrounded by a slightly pointed frame composed of rectangles and circles in red and blue. In contrast to the usually harmonious design of Islamic windows with the same motif, the arrangement of the elements and the proportions of the motif to the background appear unbalanced here: the flowers nearly touch the frame and the vase, and the peacocks almost disappear against the evenly dotted background. Also, other features distinguish this window from comparable examples from the Ottoman period: for example, the combination of vase of flowers and peacocks together with the presence of foliage tendrils is unusual; in addition, the depiction of the centre carnation, which is supported by two inclined styles growing out of the two adjacent carnations, is atypical for the flower-and-vase-motif.

Gypsum plaster; colourless glass; coloured glass (two shades of green, blue, yellow, purple; several shades of red flashed glass)

The window is well preserved and was thoroughly restored in 2003. During this intervention, earlier repairs were removed. The restoration measures included the 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. The original wooden frame was cleaned and reinforced by fixing stainless metal plates on the joints of the frame.

At the time of restoration, most of the original pieces of glass were preserved. The few missing pieces were replaced with new ones, which were attached with cellulose nitrate.

This stucco and glass window is an unconventional reinterpretation of the flower-and-vase-motif, one of the standard types of qamariyya widespread in Egypt during the Ottoman period. Windows with this motif can be found in several of the collections studied (see for instance IG_7, IG_166, IG_178, IG_255, IG_356). However, the example discussed here differs considerably from traditional stucco and glass windows of the same type, in that it combines the vase of flowers with the peacock, two motifs that usually never appear together (see Iconography).

Both the flowers in a vase and the peacock are recurrent motifs in Islamic arts. Representations of the flower-and-vase-motif can also be found in numerous other media, such as ceramics, wood panelling, wall paintings, and textiles, over a long period of time, and in both sacred and profane contexts. The motif also aroused the interest of Western artists and architects, as is attested by a significant number of book illustrations, sketches, and paintings (see for instance IG_43, IG_118, IG_149, IG_153, IG_437, IG_443, IG_461), as well as by replicas of stucco and glass windows installed in Arab-style interiors across Europe (IG_54–IG_59, IG_64, IG_91, IG_431).

The peacock is also a widely used motif across media and time (Daneshvari, 1994; Viré/Bear, 2012). However, in traditional stucco and glass windows (see for instance IG_183, IG_259) as well as in 19th-century depictions of such windows by the British architect James William Wild (1814–1892) (IG_447, IG_449), peacocks are only rarely represented in pairs. They are usually shown individually, from the side, and with the tail spread.

Due to the unusual combination of motifs and stylistic features, we assume that the window was designed by a Western architect, or that it was made according to the specific wishes of a Western client. The fact that two peacocks flank the richly decorated vase is no coincidence: the enthusiasm for the bird’s exotic beauty and colourful plumage reached a peak in the Western arts of the 19th and early 20th centuries, where the peacock became one of the main motifs of Art Nouveau stained glass (Michel, 1986, p. 84).

The unusual design as well as the good state of preservation of the window – even before its restoration in 2003 – suggest that it was produced sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. The window was made according to the traditional technique used in the manufacture of qamariyyāt in Egypt to this day (see Technique).

Another criterion in favour of the proposed date of manufacture is the fact that 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).

In 1973, the Benaki Museum in Athens acquired the window along with IG_335 from Ioannis Krystalidis (life dates and biography unknown).