Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/307

 The Profylaa on the .Platform. 295 idea was borrowed; but it was made subservient to the habits and exigencies of an art which, from a natural effect of its origins, prefers lighter and more slender shapes than those that delighted the builder of the Nile Valley. Hence in speaking of them we shall not use the term " pylon," lest it should call forth an image and type differing in too many respects from that of our restora- tion. The right name for them is " Propylsea." The Greeks applied it to buildings which, like this, consisted of a porch or gateway comprised between two massive wings. Our restoration needs scarcely to be justified, though it differs from that proposed in Coste's plan,* in that the sides are higher, more massive, and therefore stand better. Coste did not grasp that here, as in all the palaces of the enceinte, the stone door- frame was connected with a brick wall, so that his restored structure is somewhat thin and poor, and loses of its effect. The plinth upon which the bulls are set up is not an invented detail, though it is barely seen in our view (Plate II.), representing as it does the north-east side in its present state, where it lies almost buried.' It is entirely disengaged, however, on the opposite face, so that exact measurements could be made.^ As to the entrances, they have lost lintel and cornice ; but the missing limbs are easily rei^tored from a number of other doorways, either built or chiselled in the native rock about this same platform (Figs. 14, 15, 33, 57, 58, 105). We have said on what data we relied for over- laying the masses of adobe with a facing of burnt brick, which, owing to the variety of tones obtained from different clay and degree of firing, had the app«irance of mosaic* Our frieze of enamelled lions, which appears below the cornice, is borrowed from the entablature of the rock-cut tombs ; as to the embattled edge, it is the natural and inevitable mode of finishing the loft in this architecture.* Finally, over the hollows, seven metres ' The plate in question is reproduced from the fine heliogravure engraved by DiEVLAFOY {nArt antique^ ti Fkte XII.). plinth is I m. 70 c. in height, by 36 c wide on the inner face ; its salience beyond the facades is i tn. 50 c. In order to show the noblest decorative fonn employed by Persian sculpture, M. Chipies has been guilty of a sU^t infidelity. He hai tnuutferred to the northnwest fii^ide— figured in his dmwing— those man-headed winged bulls that C(»iectly belong to the north-east side. Digitized by Google
 * FLANniN and Costk, Perse anciennf, Plate LXXXVII.
 * Flandim and Coste, loe. at., Plates LXXVII.-LXXIX., pfk 78-81. The
 * Hist, of Art t torn. iv. p. 549, n. i. * /M/., torn. v. p. 533.