The Seven Cities of Delhi
inlaid work against the back wall. In the re- cess behind it are some pictures in "pietra dura," recently returned from the South Kensington Museum ; others, again, have been restored by the orders of Lord Curzon, who, at his own expense, imported an Italian artist from Florence to carry out the work. On a seat below the throne sat the Prime Minister, rising from time to time to present a petition to the King for his perusal.
It must not be supposed that this throne IS the famous Peacock Throne, which appears to have been a sort of four-poster marble bed, movable, and covered with jewels. It was valued at Rs. 107,000,000 by Tavernier, a French connoisseur, who "travelled" in works of art, and saw it in the seventeenth century. It is now in the palace of the Shah of Persia at Teheran, and has, more recently, been appraised at £2,600,000.
There are two doors to the right of the throne in the wall, the further giving access by steps to the recess behind the throne, while the nearer gave entrance to the private gardens. Formerly there was a gate in the wall of an inner court abutting on the north end of the hall ; through this court the privileged entered, by a slightly devious route, the court in front of the Hall of Private Audience. The door now used led to
