Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/737

 SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. 679 specially treated for the privacy of the inmates, the windows, often with balconies, being fitted with elaborately designed lattice work, of which there are examples in the Indian Museum, South Kensington. Another peculiarity is the banding of the walls in alternate courses of stones of different colors or of bricks (No. 285). The minarets are generally richly finished, they are usually square on plan, changing in the upper stories to polygonal and circular, each story being marked by projecting balconies supported on stalactite bracketing and with pierced balustrading, as will be seen by referring to the Mosque of Kait-Bey (No. 285). The larger mosques have several minarets (No. 292). A type of bold cresting often crowned the walls instead of a cornice (Nos. 285 and 291 o, p). The noble type of entrance, specially used in India (Nos. 294 e, 295 and 297), consisting of a high four-centred arch in a square frame, resembling a Tudor arch, and crowned by a semi-dome, has already been described (page 675). In later Mogul architecture the walls were divided into panels by perpendicular and horizontal inclosing lines (No. 295). c. Openings. — Windows were usually small, being regulated to some extent by the Southern climate in which Saracenic work was mostly carried out. They were often grouped together and occasionally had their entire surface fitted with elaborate tracery work of marble and plaster, schemed into geometrical patterns — - the small open spaces being of colored glass (Nos. 291 Band 296). Compare with Gothic treatment. Four types of arch were employed : — ■ (a.) The Pointed Arch, square in section and not moulded (No. 291 l). 2^V (b.) The Ogee or Keel Arch, used in Persia and India (No. 291 k). (c.) The Horseshoe Arch, used in Spain and North Africa (No. 291 m). (d.) The Mnltifoil or Scolloped Arch, an especially Spanish feature (Nos. 288 and 291 n). Such forms are used for arcades, window and door openings. In arcades they either rest on columns (No. 286 f) or piers (No. 286 b), and are frequently tied in at their springing by wooden beams or iron rods. Voussoirs of interlocking patterns were also used, as at the Mosque of Kait- Bey (Nos. 287 and 29 1 g, h). The doorways were often surrounded with elaborate carved work, inclosed in a square frame, with stalactite cornices (No. 291 f). D. Roofs. — The ceilings to undomed mosques were generally left with flat timbers, brilliantly colored and gilded. In some instances, as at the Alhambra, timber was canvased over and plastered before being colored. The Dome is a special feature, occurring in the principal mosques and tombs, and is of the various forms already stated as employed for arches ; it is seldom spherical as in Byzantine