Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/246

204 INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. BOOK VII. courses as far as they could, and then closed them by long slabs meeting at the top, the construction being, in fact, that of the arch of the aqueduct at Tusculum. 1 The same architects were employed by their masters to ornament the faces of these arches ; and this they did by copying and repeating the ornaments on the pillars and friezes on the opposite sides of the 371. Central Range ol Arches at the Qutb Mosque. (From a Sketch by the Author. ) court, covering the whole with a lace-work of intricate and delicate carving, such as no other mosque, except that at Ajmir, ever received before or since ; and which though perhaps in a great measure thrown away when used on such a scale is, without exception, the most exquisite specimen of its class 1 As shown in ' History of Ancient and Medieval Architecture,' vol. i. (Woodcut No. 178), p. 301. This mode of construction is only feasible when much larger stones are used than were here employed. The consequence was that the arch had become seriously crippled when I saw and sketched it. It has since been carefully restored by Government. The two great side arches either were never completed, or have fallen down in consequence of the false mode of construction.