Glass unites opposites: malleable and solid, transparent and opaque, resilient and fragile. While vessel glass in the Islamic world has been well studied, flat glass – such as windows, mirrors, and mosaics – remained largely overlooked for a long time. The 19th colloquium of the Ernst Herzfeld Society (2024, Romont) therefore focused specifically on its history, production, and use. The resulting special issue, ‘Glass in the Islamic World,’ brings together international contributions from art history, archaeology, and the natural sciences. They offer new methods and perspectives, shed light on questions of production, and explore the functions of glass in everyday life, at court, and in architecture – especially coloured light and stucco and glass windows. The volume fills a gap in research and opens up a richly multifaceted field.
Glass unites apparent opposites – it is at once malleable and solid, transparent and opaque, resilient and fragile. These qualities have long made it an important artistic and functional material. While vessel glass from Islamic regions has already been extensively studied, flat glass in its many forms – whether as window glass, mirrors, or components of mosaics – remained in the shadow of scholarship for a long time. The 19th colloquium of the Ernst Herzfeld Society for Islamic Art and Archaeology, organized jointly by the Swiss Research Center for Stained Glass and Glass Art (Vitrocentre Romont) and the Swiss Asia Society and held in 2024 in Romont (Switzerland), therefore focused specifically on this fascinating yet often underestimated subject: the history, production, and use of glass in the Islamic world, with particular emphasis on flat glass.
The present special issue, ‘Glass in the Islamic World,’ brings together international experts from art history, archaeology, and the natural sciences, presenting both current research findings and innovative methodological approaches. It fills a gap and opens up new perspectives on a field of study that is as rich as it is complex. The introductory overview by Stefano Carboni, one of the leading experts on Islamic glass, addresses fundamental questions of glass production in Islamic societies: where, when, by whom, how, and why was glass made? The subsequent essays – written by equally distinguished scholars – are organized thematically and range from new approaches to the study of early Islamic glass finds to the role of glass in courtly contexts and issues surrounding the production of everyday and luxury goods. A particular focus lies on coloured light and the artistic design of stucco and glass windows, whose significance is compellingly demonstrated both in Islamic architecture and in its reception in the West. The volume is further complemented by contributions on ongoing research projects, which broaden the perspective beyond the core topic and reflect the dynamism of current scholarly debates.
With a total of fifteen peer-reviewed contributions, this publication offers a well-founded and multifaceted insight into glass research in the Islamic world. It is aimed both at specialists and at readers interested in art and cultural history, inviting them to rediscover a field of study that has so far received little attention but is immensely rewarding.
Francine Giese is director of the Vitrocentre and the Vitromusée Romont. From 2014–2019 she held a SNSF professorship at the Institute of Art History of the University of Zurich, where she led the research project ‘Mudejarismo and Moorish Revival in Europe’ (SNSF, 2014–2019). From 2020–2024, she studied Islamic stucco and glass windows in Western museum collections within the framework of the SNSF project ‘Luminosity of the East’ (2020–2024). Currently, she is leading the SNSF project “Stained Glass in Islamic Lands. Trans-Mediterranean Networks, Local Identities and Glass Technology” (2025–2029), as well as the interdisciplinary project ‘The Royal Chapel of Córdoba Revisited’ (Gerda Henkel Stiftung, 2023–2026). Her research interests are transfer and exchange processes between the Islamic World and the West, architectural Orientalism, materiality, and the arts of glass.
PD Dr Francine Giese,
francine.giese@vitrocentre.chSophie Wolf studied geology and mineralogy before specializing in archaeological science and conservation during her doctoral and postdoctoral research. She was a research fellow at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art at the University of Oxford and held teaching and research positions at the University of Fribourg, the Swiss Gemmological Institute in Basel, and the ETH Zurich. Since October 2010, she has been affiliated with the Vitrocentre Romont, where she contributes to scientific research, as well as providing consulting and conservation services to external partners. Her research focuses on the history, provenance, technology, and conservation of stained glass and reverse glass paintings.
Dr Sophie Wolf,
sophie.wolf@vitrocentre.chSarah Tabbal studied art history, classical archaeology, and psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich and at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. In 2020, she completed her PhD on 19th-century French and Spanish Orientalist painting at the Institute of Art History at the LMU (“Das Gelb Marokkos. Auf den Spuren der Orientmaler Fortuny und Regnault”, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023). From 2020 to 2024, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the SNSF project “Luminosity of the East. Materiality, Provenance and Reception of Islamic Stucco and Glass Windows in the West” at the Vitrocentre Romont in Switzerland, where she studied the reception of Islamic stucco and glass windows in Orientalist paintings, drawings and photographs. Her research interests include Orientalism, Islamic art, and the arts of glass.
Dr Sarah Tabbal,
Sarah_Tabbal@hotmail.com
The aim of the Ernst Herzfeld Society is an adequate edition of all papers presented at the colloquia and other articles of academic value.
