ly by Court artists.

"They transport us straight to the Court of the lordly ABBAS and his
predecessors or successors on the throne.... We see the King engaged
at some royal festivity enjoying the pleasure of the Bowl."--LORD
CURZON, History of Persia, Vol. II, page 34.

KER PORTER, who saw the Palace of Chahal Situn in its perfect
condition, records: "The exhaustless profusion of its splendid
materials reflected not merely their own golden lights on each other,
but all the variegated colours of the Garden, so that the whole
surface seemed formed of polished silver and mother of pearl set with
precious stones."

LORD CURZON, who visited it soon after its last repair in 1891, quotes
KER PORTER and by way of contrast says: "The bulk of this superb
decoration which still remains in the THRONE ROOM behind, to point
bitter contrast, had on the walls of the LOGGIA been ruthlessly
obliterated by the brush of the painter, who had left in its place
pink wash; had I caught the Pagan, I would gladly have suffocated him
in a barrel of his own paint."--History of Persia, Vol. II, page 33.

[Illustration: PAIR OF DOORS FROM THE PAVILION OF CHAHAL SITUN (HALL
OF FORTY PILLARS) BUILT BY SHAH ABBAS THE GREAT (A.D. 1588-1629)]

[Illustration: RIZA ABBASI, FAVORED COURT ARTIST, PORTRAYS EUROPEANS
AT THE COURT OF SHAH ABBAS THE GREAT (A.D. 1588-1629)]

Detail of exquisitely painted woodwork from the Pavilion of CHAHAL
SITUN (Hall of Forty Pillars), the Palace at Ispahan built by SHAH
ABBAS.

The young Shah, who was pleased with the leader of the party
(Europeans), gave him royal gifts, Sir Anthony Sherley records (1598),
including "forty horses all furnished, two with exceeding rich
saddles, plated with gold, and set with rubies and turquoises." To
these he added camels, tents, and a sum of money.

* * * * *

[PAGE 17]

her old faith, source of sustaining energy; and continued to radiate
into these planets of countries and races of the System, her
all-stimulating cultural beams, the reflection of which is discernible
in all artistic manifestations of those countries. In the field of
literature, which is so little known in the western world, the
influence is even greater than in the visual art with which we are
concerned. MUHAMMADAN literature, be it Arabic, Turkish, or Persian,
is PERSIAN in spirit and feeling.[7]

[Footnote 6: "The ascendancy of the Persians over the Arabs, that is
to say of t