Another feature of the decorative woodwork in this part of Persia is that
produced by the large latticed windows, which are well adapted to the
climate.

[Illustration: Door of Carved Sandal Wood, from Travancore. India Museum,
South Kensington. Period: Probably Late XVIII. Century.]

In the manufacture of textile fabrics--notably, their famous carpets of
Yezd and Ispahan, and their embroidered cloths in hammered and engraved
metal work, and formerly in beautiful pottery and porcelain--they have
excelled: and examples will be found in the South Kensington Museum. It is
difficult to find a representative specimen of Persian furniture except a
box or a stool; and the illustration of a brass incense burner is,
therefore, given to mark the method of design, which was adopted in a
modified form by the Persians from their Arab conquerors.

[Illustration: Incense Burner of Engraved Brass. (_In the South Kensington
Museum_).]

This method of design has one or two special characteristics which are
worth noticing. One of these was the teaching of Mahomet forbidding animal
representation in design--a rule which in later work has been relaxed;
another was the introduction of mathematics into Persia by the Saracens,
which led to the adoption of geometrical patterns in design; and a third,
the development of "Caligraphy" into a fine art, which has resulted in the
introduction of a text, or motto, into so many of the Persian designs of
decorative work. The combination of these three characteristics have given
us the "Arabesque" form of ornament, which, in artistic nomenclature,
occurs so frequently.

The general method of decorating woodwork is similar to that of India, and
consists in either inlaying brown wood (generally teak) with ivory or
pearl in geometrical patterns, or in covering the wooden box, or
manuscript case, with a coating of lacquer, somewhat similar to the
Chinese or Japanese preparations. On this groundwork some good miniature
painting was executed, the colours being, as a rule, red, green, and gold,
with black lines to give force to the design.

The author of "Persia and the Persians," already quoted, had, during his
residence in the country, as American Minister, great opportunities of
observation, and in his chapter entitled "A Glance at the Arts of Persia,"
has said a good deal of this mosaic work. Referring to the scarcity of
wood in Persia, he says: "For the above reason one is astonished at the
marvellou