Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/198

 Vaulted Structures. 187 furnished the architect of the Takht-i-KhosrQ with the elements of the decoration of his fa^e (Fig. 92); whilst between the ninth and the eleventh century a.d. it was systematically applied to the external walls of the churches at Ani, in Armenia, erected by the Bagratidx dynasty.* Moreover, the porch of one of these churches is supported by short sturdy columns, the outline and proportions of which remind us of those which at Sarvistan uphold the springing of the arch (Fig. 85). Then, too, among the processes employed by this architecture, should be noticed a practice which helps not a little to impart a comparatively modem look to the buildings under consideration. Thus» the Persepolitan ornaments imitated at Ferflz-Abad were plaster throughout. Now, the extensive use — ^we might say abuse — of stuccoed decoration is a distinguishing feature of Arab archi- tecture. Plaster, when fresh, is soft and malleable of its nature, so that it affords the craftsman an opportunity for showing his dexterity of hand in those singularly delicate quillings, gofferings, fillets, beading, and what not ; but there is also the danger of meiging into mere fineness. There was nothing in the antique architecture of the East, represented by that of the Assyrians and of the first Persian empire, to foreshadow effects that in after times would be demanded of a dangerously complaisant materia]. Data, then, bear us out in refusing to ascribe a remote antiquity to the monuments that form the subject of our discussion. For our part, we feel very far away indeed from the reign of Cyrus, beyond which it is proposed to carry the construction of the body of one of these buildings. We find it quite as impossible to move on their date to a period when Sassanid art, in possession of all its means, was running breast to breast with Byzantine art in point of bold conception, breadth, and grandeur. Sarvistan, and still more Feruz-Abad and Ferash-Abad, are certainly older than the Takht-i-Khosru, the Takht-i-Gherro, the Tagh-i-Bostan, and Altun-Kopru. In the former the material of which walls and vaulting are made is less regular, and left more or less in the rough. The execution of the vaults shows singular clumsiness, and yet allows us to guess that the constructor had already some inkling of the services that presently will be demanded of the vault. He feels that, thanks to the variety of the combinations to be evolved therefrom, it lends itself better than any other system ' T£xiER,/?^im>A^« dt FArmbM etdela Ferse^ Plates XVII., XXIII. Diyiii^ed by Google