Window made of perforated stucco backed with coloured glass, depiction of a mosque, Egypt, 19th century.

This Islamic stained glass window has a wooden frame. Perforations are carved into a slab of stucco and backed with coloured glass to create the pattern. The design on this example represents a pavilion building flanked by cypress trees, framed by an arch. The background is made up of small circular dots backed with clear glass.

The Reverend Greville John Chester (1830-1892), born in Denton, Norfolk, studied at Oxford and became an ordained clergyman before sickness forced him to retire in 1865. For his ailing health, he was encouraged to travel to Egypt, making his first visit that year; he subsequently travelled there almost every year until his death, alongside journeys elsewhere across the Mediterranean and Near East. Each year, Chester bought items en masse, to sell or donate to British institutions upon returning. His acquisitions form a considerable backbone of the early holdings at the V&A, British Museum, Ashmolean and Fitzwilliam. His contributions to the Victoria and Albert Museum incorporate both ancient and Islamic artefacts, predominantly but not exclusively purchased in Egypt; the most significant acquisitions include several hundred fragments of Late Antique textiles from Akhmim, given to the museum between 1887 and 1892. Chester was widely regarded as having a keen eye for acquisitions, and cultivated close friendships with several prominent Egyptologists. He was also notable for recording the provenance of many ancient items he purchased, an unusual practice for the time.

Ottoman period

Glazed windows of this type, both plain and decorative, are found in traditional buildings in Turkey and the Arab lands. They are usually set at a high level, over unglazed windows that are sometimes covered by shutters and screens. Such windows were used in the Middle East for centuries to adorn a variety of buildings, including palaces, mosques, houses, and tombs.

This window consists of small pieces of glass of different colours arranged within a plaster framework to form a depiction of a mosque. It was probably made in nineteenth-century Cairo. During this period the increasing influence of European fashions led to a decline in the production of such windows.

311-1870