Image Ordered

IG_410: Photograph Window (Plaster). Tunis.
(MISC_IG_RoyalComission_1852_IG_410)

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Title

‘Window (Plaster). Tunis.’

Type of Object
Dimensions
35.4 x 27.5 cm (book measurement)
Artist / Producer
Owen, Hugh · Photographer
Dating
1852
Research Project
Author and Date of Entry
Franziska Niemand 2025

Iconography

Description

Photograph of a Tunisian stucco window reproduced in the photographically illustrated book by the Royal Comission (1852), Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 1851. Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided Vol. IV, London: Spicer Brothers/W. Clowes and Sons, p. 1607.

The window has a rectangular frame. The stucco surface is structured by a round-arch resting on two columns. The spandrels show a non-perforated intertwined tendril ornament, while the perforated surface shows a plaster lattice in the form of numerous intersecting rosettes with twelve-pointed stars.

Iconclass Code
48A981 · ornament ~ geometric motifs
48A9815 · ornament ~ starforms
Iconclass Keywords

Materials, Technique and State of Preservation

Technique

Photographically illustrated book: salted paper print.

History

Research

This black and white photograph with sepia toning shows a plaster window removed from its architectural context but positioned as an object on a cloth-covered table in front of a wall. Reproduced in the publication Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 1851. Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided, we can conclude that the object documented was exhibited at the first world’s fair in London. However, it is not certain whether the window was displayed as it appears in the photograph, or whether the setting was deliberately created for taking the photograph. The caption in the publication specifies the provenance of this window as being Tunis.

The window has a rectangular frame, but the internal structure is defined by a round arch resting on two columns. The spandrels show an intertwined tendril ornament, while the main inner surface consists of a plaster lattice in the form of numerous intersecting twelve-pointed stars. The photograph does not enable us to see whether the openings were backed with small pieces of coloured glass, as was the case with many windows of the same typology (IG_270–IG_274, IG_362–368).

As it bears several traces of damage, the window gives the impression of being a historical spolia rather than a new creation by contemporary craftsmen. The arches, one column, and the spandrels show cracks. Moreover, some parts of the plaster lattice are broken off, and in these places a deeper level of the plaster lattice can be seen. It is also possible that the damage occurred during transportation to London, especially as there are known examples of stucco and glass windows being damaged when exported to Europe (cf. IG_86). In any case, the window exhibited at the 1851 world’s fair gave the impression of an old, used architectural fragment.

Neither the text of the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 1851 nor the Official Descriptive and Illustrative Catalogue mentions a Tunisian window (cf. Hamber 2018, p. 335). The window is perhaps one of the ‘13.–2 models of arabesque plaster ornaments, used for decorating the interior of Moorish rooms, beautifully carved’ listed in the Official Descriptive and Illustrative Catalogue (Royal Comission, 1851, p. 1413).

The Tunisian window found an audience not only among the visitors to the Great Exhibition. As well as being published in the catalogue, the image was displayed at the exhibition at the Society of Arts in London from December 1852 to January 1853; from September 1853 to April 1854, and again from April to November 1854, it was part of the 1st and 2nd Tour of circulating photographs organized by the Society of Arts (see Hamber, 2018, p. 335).

Dating
1852
Place of Manufacture

Bibliography and Sources

Literature

Hamber, A. (2018). Photography and the 1851 Great Exhibition, New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press.

Royal Commission (1851). Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations. Official Descriptive and Illustrative Catalogue III. Foreign States, London: Spicer Brothers/W. Clowes and Sons.

Royal Commission (1852). Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations 1851. Reports by The Juries on The Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided Vol. IV. London: Spicer Brothers/W. Clowes and Sons.

Exhibitions

1851: Great Exhibition, London

Image Information

Name of Image
MISC_IG_RoyalComission_1852_IG_410

Citation suggestion

Niemand, F. (2025). ‘Window (Plaster). Tunis.’. In Vitrosearch. Retrieved July 1, 2025 from https://test.vitrosearch.ch/objects/2713254.

Record Information

Reference Number
IG_410