​This article explores the relationship between images and written texts in the pre-colonial Arab tradition of Tunisia, by focusing specifically on the art of stained glass. To this end, the role and function of writing and narrative within the craft of staining glass is examined. The aim is to understand the function of written rhetoric as one building block of the final product, which itself is an important component in the transition from a purely oral tradition to an image-based, visual culture. Through its study of narrative stained glass in Tunisia’s pre-colonial period, this paper makes a fundamental contribution to the understanding of Arab visual culture and ideas of fine arts and aesthetics in a period prior to the formation of a coherent national identity for the various Arab nation-states.