STAINED GLASS, pieces of glass stained of various colours, and arranged so as to form a variety of patterns or devices, and sometimes of pictorial representations.
The ancient Egyptians are said to have made and coloured small ornaments of glass, but glass does not seem to have been much used by any of the ancients ; small pieces are found in Roman mosaics, and some larger plates have been discovered at Ilerculaneum, which some have supposed to have been used as window glass. According to Bede, glass was em ployed in the windows of Bishop's Wearmouth church, but it did not come into general use for some time afterwards, and was not used in private houses till A. n. 1180. Stained glass for windows, was probably in use as early as the ninth century, but no example exists in England of earlier date than the tAN elfth century, to which period belong the remains at Canterbury. These consist of -panels of various forms, con taining subjects on a deep blue or ruby ground, the spaces between the panels being filled up with mosaic patterns in which ruby and blue arc the prevalent colours ; the whole is surrounded with a border of foliage and scroll-work.
In the Decorated style, quarry glazing becomes of frequent use, and the panel system loses ground ; where panels occur, the ground is covered with patterns of foliage of a more flowing and natural character than in the preceding style; the vine and ivy leaves are fitvourites. Sometimes the
entire window is filled with such foliage, which is often only in outline, and frequently only some portions of the pattern arc stained yellow. Quarries contain small patterns of leaves, rosettes, &c., sometimes in plain outline, but fre quently coloured yellow ; in foliage patterns, in which the vine and ivy leaves predominate, the stalks of the leaves arc often so arranged, as to form one continuous flowing pattern throughout the window, and at other times, one edge of each quarry had a coloured stripe, so that when put together they each appeared surrounded with a coloured border. The entire design is surrounded, in most eases, with a running border of foliage and flowers. At this period, single figures surmounted by canopies, begin to appear, at first of small size, two or more being contained in one light, but afterwards they become larger, and were disposed one in each light.
In the Perpendicular period, this practice begins to in crease, the figures and canopies are of a larger size, more than one being seldom contained in one light ; at last whole windows containing several lights were filled with one large grouped subject. Quarries still continue in use, but the devices do not flow one into the other, consisting mostly of rosettes, flowers, fleurs de lis, and heraldic devices, the latter being very frequently and generally adopted in this style. Coloured inscriptions on bands or scrolls arc frequently seen running diagonally, and at regular intervals, across windows, from top to bottom.
With the decline of Gothic architecture, stained windows fell into disuse; and with its revival, it is now occupying a great deal of attention, and is executed with considerable taste and skill.