form a very rich ceiling.

The bedstead of King Theebaw, brought from Mandalay, is an example of this
mixture of glass and wood, which can be made extremely effective. The
wood is carved and gilt to represent the gold setting of numerous precious
stones, which are counterfeited by small pieces of looking-glass and
variously-coloured pieces of transparent glass.

Some of the Prince of Wales' presents, namely, chairs, with carved lions
forming arms; tables of shishem wood, inlaid with ebony and ivory, shew
the European influence we have alluded to.

Amongst the modern ornamental articles in the Museum are many boxes, pen
trays, writing cases, and even photograph albums of wood and ivory mosaic
work, the inlaid patterns being produced by placing together strips of tin
wire, sandal wood, ebony, and of ivory, white, or stained green: these
bound into a rod, either triangular or hexagonal, are cut into small
sections, and then inlaid into the surface of the article to be decorated.

Papier mache and lacquer work are also frequently found in small articles
of furniture; and the collection of drawings by native artists attests the
high skill in design and execution attained by Indian craftsmen.

Persia.

The Persians have from time immemorial been an artistic people, and their
style of Art throughout successive conquests and generations has varied
but little.

Major-General Murdoch Smith, R.E., the present Director of the branch of
the South Kensington Museum in Edinburgh, who resided for some years in
Persia, and had the assistance when there of M. Richard (a well-known
French antiquarian), made a collection of _objets d'art_ some years ago
for the Science and Art Department, which is now in the Kensington Museum,
but it contains comparatively little that can be actually termed
furniture; and it is extremely difficult to meet with important specimens
of ornamental wordwork of native workmanship. Those in the Museum, and in
other collections, are generally small ornamental articles. The chief
reason of this is, doubtless, that little timber is to be found in Persia,
except in the Caspian provinces, where, as Mr. Benjamin has told us in
"Persia and the Persians," wood is abundant; and the Persian architect,
taking advantage of his opportunity, has designed his houses with wooden
piazzas--not found elsewhere--and with "beams, lintels, and eaves
quaintly, sometimes elegantly, carved, and tinted with brilliant hues."