Window with a Floral Design
Late 18th–early 19th c., Ottoman Egypt
A historic window can act as a lens into the cultural sphere it once inhabited. The designs found on many stucco windows from the Near East resonate with those found on glazed pottery, carved wooden furniture, and even some textiles, all featured in the Prisse d’Avennes print to the right. These details emphasize how such works deftly interacted with the materiality of the spaces they adorned. The angled carving of each design further anticipates an installation high in a chamber and accordingly casts the light downward into a space. Beyond ornament and light, these windows also had a practical function. Writers from late nineteenth-century Damascus noted that these windows were in “brisk demand, and it is particularly needed as the season of winter approaches. This spreads the demand for it greatly and brings forth satisfactory profits.” Traveling historians of the same era also confirm the benefits of these windows against the penetrating cold of Egyptian winters.
Rotch / Lamb Art Collection, Department of Distinctive Collections, MIT Libraries
Available at Distinctive Collections Noncirculating Collection (Rotch Art Collection Flowers in a Vase 10), Identifier: 1498538656