This montage, made by Émile Prisse d’Avennes (1807–1879), combines two stucco and glass windows, both with the motif of stylized flowers (roses, carnations, lillies and tulips) in a vase, placed on a table. Prisse indicated the holes drilled in the stucco panel with many small dots. On the left side, the vase of flowers is seen within an arch made of geometric forms. The windows are encased in a frame; the one on the left side features a stylized tendril ornament, of which Prisse d’Avennes only drew the upper part.

In the archives of Émile Prisse d’Avennes (1807–1879) two mounted and retouched photographs (fol. 3 and 5, IG_467, IG_488) are preserved in the album Art Arabe. Dessins: Arabesques, 5. They are preparatory works for the French archaeologist’s book L’Art arabe d’après les monuments du Kaire depuis le VIIe siècle jusqu’à la fin du XVIIIe, published in 1877.
The windows on fol. 5 were reconstructed from fragments. Prisse d’Avennes explains that he had been able to buy in Paris three boxes with fragments of six stucco and glass windows from a mosque in Egypt. In 1867, these windows had been sent from Egypt to the world’s fair in Paris, but had not survived the journey and therefore arrived there in pieces. Prisse d’Avennes succeeded in reconstructing two windows (Prisse d’Avennes, 1869–1877, vol. 1, pp. 154, 278, vol. 3, pl. CXLV; Keller, 2020, p. 31). A photograph of these fragments can be found in one of Prisse d’Avennes’ Cairo’s portfolios (IG_86).
Only one of the reconstructed windows on fol. 5 – the right side of the montage shown here – was published in the book (IG_43). As indicated by an annotation – 'coté inédit' –, the left side remained unpublished, because they were too similar to each other (Prisse d’Avennes, 1869–77, vol. 1, p. 278).
Prisse d'Avennes repeatedly used photographs to create his lithographs. For the expedition to Egypt in 1858–1860, he had recruited Willem de Famars Testas (1834–1896) as draughtsman and Édouard Jarrot (1835–1873) as photographer. Some of the photographs made on the journey had later been retouched, mostly to emphasise the contours, which simplified the work of the lithographer. This work was one of the tasks of de Famars Testas (de Hond, 2013, p. 85–86). The two retouched photographs of stucco and glass windows, however, were not made in Egypt but in Paris.