This pencil and watercolour drawing of a fragment of a rectangular stucco and glass window was made by František Schmoranz on 2 February 1870, when he was in Cairo. The drawing was left unfinished, as the stucco lattice as well as the colourful pieces of glass are only partially drawn, and some light pencil lines for the construction of the pattern are still visible.

The window is arranged with a central rectangular main section framed by a band of cartouches with lobed ends. While most of the cartouches are left blank, the lower ones show red foliate scrolls with palmettes on a green background. In the middle of the main section, a small rosette is placed within a ten-pointed star. Its red outlines continue, forming geometric shapes containing yellow palmettes and foliage on a green background alternating with pieces of plain-blue glass. A thin band of dots indicating small circular perforations surrounds the central field. The main stucco lattice that divides the window into several sections is emphasized not only by its greyish beige colour, but also by shading indicating depth. The stucco lattice of the principal surface, which lies at a deeper level and where the stucco is more delicately perforated, is not drawn in that great detail. However, by showing individual pieces of glass instead of continuous lines and coloured areas, Schmoranz translates the mosaic character of this stucco and glass window into his drawing.

According to the date next to František Schmoranz’s signature, the drawing was made on 2 February 1870, when Schmoranz was in Cairo. This is one day before he made a drawing of a round stucco and glass window in the same mosque (IG_417). Although its stucco lattice and pieces of glass are not fully executed, the drawing seems less like an unfinished draft than the one made the day after.

A caption locates the window to ‘Cairo. Ghama. Esbekh. (Schibak)’, probably referring to the Mosque of Mamluk Amir Azbak al-Yusufi.
Drawings by Schmoranz showing different views and architectural details of this mosque were included in the exhibition ‘Historische Ausstellung des islamitischen Orientes. Umfassende Darstellungen von Cultus- und Profanbauten’ curated by Schmoranz in the k.k. Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie in Vienna in 1876. In the exhibition catalogue the building is called mosque and funerary monument of Esbeki-Bey in Cairo and dated to the 15th century (‘Moschee und Grabdenkmal Esbeki-Bey in Cairo. XV. Jahrhundert’; Schmoranz, 1876, p. 3).