Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/360

 340 History of Art in Antiquitv. indicated in the pseudo architecture of the royal tombs, that is because their entablature upholds the stage upon which are placed king and altar. It was purposely simplified and transformed into a kind of pedestal ; its upper limbs had to come away in view of the special function it was made to fulfil. The brick waif behind the porch is divided into panels ; above appears a frieze made up of archers, copied on those found at Susa in the same situation (see Plate XII.). The whde decoration is enamelled clay. The roof of the central pavilion is raised above that of the lateral sections. Here are found apartments of less importance than those in the exterior porch or the hypostyle hall. The crown is not uniform throughout the building ; for embattlements appear in the centre, whilst the Egyptian gorge is the mode of finishing the top at the sides. The restored woodwork presented by M. Chipiez (Figs. 25, 26) indicates how the shape in question could be obtained from timber. That crenelations were gilt may be deduced from the palace ait Ecbatana, where all the wood was covered with laminae of the precious metals.' As to the gorge, we have repeatedly pointed out that it invariably figures about doorways and niches, the minor sections of the unit, in all the buildings at Persepolis. Consequently it will not appear out of place in wings, which, like these, are of a supplementary and minor character. The pillars in the vestibule are not striated with flutings ; it was one way of indic^iting that the columns of some of the palaces may have been plain, like those of the pseudo facades at Naksh-i-Rustem. Despite the simplification, the central edifice, with its colonnade and portals embellished with sculptures, preserves a rich and varied aspect ; whereas the sole ornament about the walls surrounding the chambers is obtained from bricks of different colours set out in geometrical patterns, a mode of adornment which cost little or no effort to the builder, but which he found very useful for large surfaces.' Above this kind of tapestried decoration, composed of bands bisecting one another, we have pot a figured frieze made up of griffins face to face, separated by a tree — a device which belongs to *' the properties " knowledge. Part of the basia of the Indus was a satrapy in the reign of Darius. Through that channel certain characteristic forms of the royal architecture of PerBia roajr have found their way to distant India, and the remains ot such imitations might exhibit features no longer current in their models. ' Hist. <^ Art, torn. v. p» 499. * Jbid^j p. 549. Digitized by Google