Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/201

 In this grand hall our interest was naturally centered upon the Takht-i Td'us, or Peacock Throne, which each Shah mounts when being crowned King of Kings or when holding state levees for foreign emissaries. The royal seat stands at the farther end of the great salon, and is claimed to be the famous throne built by Shah Jahan, the Moghul emperor of India, in the eighth year of his reign, 1634 a.d., but carried away as a trophy by the Persian conqueror Nadir Shah, when he over- ran northern Hindustan in 1749. The superb white marble base, or platform, on which the throne formerly stood is still shown in the Moghul court at Delhi, where I had seen it when traveling in India in 1901 and again in 1911.^ The throne itself, which now graces the audience hall of the Persian Shahan- Shah, or ' King of Kings,' is a magnificent work of art, sump- tuous in the extreme. It is a jeweled platform, sometimes compared to a ' field bed,' about four feet high and five by eight feet in area, resting on six massive legs with four additional supports, and mounted by a double step. A heavy railing, dec- orated with metal knobs and finials, emboxes the rug-bedecked seat, and rises at the rear to form an elevated back against which the Shah sits in Oriental fashion, supported by a bolster- cushion and surrounded by pillows. The rich incrustation of jewels, the highly ornate character of the lacquer work, and the delicacy of the traceries and arabesque designs impart to the throne an exquisiteness of finish and beauty that is quite its own. Lord Curzon's description is so excellent that I quote it, though venturing to draw attention to a slight inaccuracy.

< The entire fabric is overlaid with a plating of gold, which is exquisitely- chiselled and enamelled, and is absolutely incrusted with precious stones among which rubies and emeralds are the most prominent. Seven ^ be-

1 This base resembles a huge table, ^ Three different photographs which and stands nearly waist-high. One of are accessible to me show that there the pedestals which supported it is now are six legs and four supports. Two to be seen in the Metropolitan Museum, of these supports are on either side of in New York City, having been ac- the steps ; the other two sustain re- quired by purchase in 1908. spectively the middle and the back

part of the flooring of the throne.

�� �