Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What is this?

It's a stained glass window dating to circa 1869, designed by Henry Sharp. Sharp was based in Manhattan and designed windows for churches up and down the East Coast.

Why are there stars of David as well as a Maltese cross on this piece?

Because the Christian church accepts the Old Testament as a pre-cursor to the New Testament, the Star of David you see was an acceptable symbol to have in a stained glass windows. These motifs were used often in stained glass windows in churches and other public spaces in the mid 1850s when stained glass was beginning to see a revival in the US. Sharp designed windows for churches all over the east coast. The Met Museum actually has another one by Sharp that has similar motifs to the ones you see there.

What is vitreous?

Vitreous basically means glass. Vitreous paint has a chemical make-up similar to glass and can therefore bond to the glass of the window itself. It makes the pigment more durable.

Window

Henry E. Sharp

Decorative Arts and Design

On View: Decorative Art, 4th Floor

ARTIST Henry E. Sharp, American

MEDIUM Colored glass, flashed glass, viteous paint, new lead

Place Manufactured: New York, New York, United States

DATES ca. 1869

DIMENSIONS 94 x 34 1/4 in. (238.8 x 87.0 cm)

COLLECTIONS Decorative Arts and Design

ACCESSION NUMBER 2002.16

CREDIT LINE Gift of The Packer Collegiate Institute

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Arch shaped stained glass window (removed from frame) in bright blue, green, yellow and red glass with medieval styled iconography. Tall stained glass window with mirrored vertical outer borders of green foliage band and dark blue band with thin orange border, with 12 red squares inset at regularly spaced intervals in the dark blue band; central window design of dark blue lattice pattern with three quatrefoils, central motif dark red Greek cross in dark blue background and upper and lower quatrefoils with green medieval style floral design with yellow flower with dark red center.

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Decorative Art, 4th Floor