Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/501

Industrial Arts. 477 The same remarks hold good in regard to many a mosque in Persia, robbed of the better half of their decoration ; but edifices that have suffered in this way are not the oldest, as might be expected, but the most modern. The architect at first applied enamel to the side of the brick which would constitute the face of the wall. The use of tiles as revctement is not older than the Sefyvieh dynasty ; it is an indication of decay which betrays itself in many other ways. The method followed in Persia down to the sixteenth century was precisely the same as that of the Chaldacan ceramists. The Fig. 250. — Susa. Enamelled slab. Dimension!! at the side?, 35 c. by 33 c. ; height of edge, 9 c coloured decoration of the palaces at Susa is made up, not of small squares, but of large slabs applied to the base of the wall, Enamel, as already observed, was only applied to the face which would be visible in the construction (Figs. 64, 250). The only exception to the rule occurs in those which lined the tops of the ramps, the upper face of which is enamelled ; but one and all were kept in place by their own weight, and bitumen poured in the vertical and horizontal joints. The kind of mosaic formed by ornaments fixed to the external faces of these slabs was in no danger of peeling off, but would last as long as the wall, of which it was as the epidermis. The process involved in obtaining such a result as this was not an easy one. The edge of these terra- cotta plaques has a mean height of nine centimetres ; each archer was made up of fifty or thereabouts of them. Very skilful work- men were selected to piece them together so as to form the figure, but as many as were required could always be obtained. The operation was facilitated by marks made with the graver in the