Stained glass is coloured glass assembled into decorative or pictorial designs, the pieces usually held together by strips of lead known as cames and fitted into windows or panels. Details such as faces, drapery and lettering are painted onto the glass with vitreous paint and fixed by firing, and a yellow silver stain, introduced in the medieval period, allowed areas of colour to be added without separate pieces.
Stained glass reached a high point in the cathedrals and churches of medieval Europe, but much English glass was destroyed during the Reformation and the Civil War. The craft was revived in the nineteenth century as part of the Gothic Revival, with designers including A. W. N. Pugin and firms such as Hardman, Clayton and Bell, and Morris and Co., whose windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones are especially admired. Victorian and Edwardian houses frequently incorporated stained glass in front doors, fanlights, stair windows and conservatories, often with floral, heraldic or Art Nouveau designs. Collectors and buyers look for quality of design and painting, original glass and sound leading, and should check for cracks, replaced pieces, bowing and faded paintwork. Salvaged panels can be set into new windows, internal doors or lightboxes.
