Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/102

 TiiK Column. 89 worked out in a more elaborate fashion. Thus, in one of her e-xemplars which belongs to the main edifice, the bell is not only ornamented by a double row of pendant leaves, but is further enriched with balls or knobs, and palms carried round the upper border. A firmly outlined torus is the connecting link between the base and the shaft (Fig. 30). Another base associated with a smaller building was discovered at a different point of the Fiu. JO. — Base of column in the great palace, Susa, after the fragments brought home by Dieulafoy. Height, dr. i m. 50 c. Louvre. tumulus, and more nearly approaches the Fersepolitan specimens (Fig. 12). The type that prevailed all over the country in the golden age of Persian art, during which it produced its choicest fruits, is represented in Fig. 30 ; its superiority over the other forms that strove with it for mastery will be readily admitted ; it constitutes the true Persian base, the best thing indigenous art ever elaborated. At first sight the member under discussion seems to deserve in full its name of base applied thereto, but closer observation brings