FRANCE, LATE 19TH CENTURY

This large stained glass window depicts a Hindu deity, possibly the popular Goddess Lakshmi. She is shown here holding flower buds, originally meant to be lotus flowers. The provenance of this stained glass window suggests that it was produced in France. Important glass makers such as Philippe Imberton created impressive stained glass windows in the Islamic style; see for instance a pair of windows signed by Imberton and dated 1887 which sold at Christie’s, New York, 18 November 2014, lot 39. Whilst Orientalist works of art in the Islamic style are the subject of many publications, European objects made in the Indian style are fewer and far lesser known. It is possible that this window was commissioned by a wealthy patron for a salon hindou of a Parisian town house or designed for an art dealer exhibiting at one of the Great Exhibitions in the second half of the 19th century.