Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/332

The Hypostyle Hall of Xerxes. 315 by a diagram showing eacli and all its elements {I'ig. 27). A liberal revetement of enamelled clay, of metal, and perhaps ivory covered all its faces. It was a foret^one conclusion that embattle- ments and a lion frieze must be made of terra-cotta, out of which they could be so easily fashioned. We have the authority of the rock-cut tombs for the situation we have assigned to our dory- phore frieze (Fig. 70), whilst the enamelled tiles constituting it have come out of the recent excavations at Susa (Plate XI.). Then, too, enamelled clay has furnished the materials for the image of Ahura-Mazda, which we have borrowed from the central landing- place, and figured at the top of our edifice, where the huge open wings of the god spread right and left over the palace, as if to take its inmates under his safeguard. Metal plaques may have been applied to the uucovered ends of the joists to protect them against the weather, whilst bronze rosettes, enframing the heads of iron clamps, were profusely distributed all over the surface. The wood was painted throughout, and required re-doing pretty often, for the ancknts did not use <nl for the purpose. Its preserving qualities, which far outweigh coats of paint, were unknown to them. Internally, the lower face of the loft, or ceiling, was embellUhed in the same style and as liberally as the vertical face. The nature of the materials employed and die mode of putting them together involved division of surface arranged in compartments. As here timber would not be exposed to outside damp, metal was less necessary, or at least had not the same part to play. If introduced in decorations where grounds were tinted and the main lines put in with the brush, it was to heighten the contour of the painted panels, or bring out the central part. The general character of the wood-panelling is well seen in Plate VI. ; a diagram shows that a distinct and special disposition was adopted for the centre of the hall, where the prince is seated with the great nobles around him (Fig. 154). There the ceiling is slighdy raised, and completely covered with gold or silver laminae, whose sheen is in excellent harmony with the elevated stage and the royal throne placed upon it An idea of this sacred stage may be gained from that which appears towards the top of the frontispiece of the rock-cut tomb at Naksh-i-Rustem and the sacred mount behind Persepolis (Fig. 112). The traditional stage, as stated some few pages back, has survived in Persia; on state occasions the shah gives audience seated on a takkit as it is now called (Fig. 1 55). If the forms of the Digitized by Google