River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-01-04
PERSIAN SPLENDORS.
The Palaces of the Shah-ssSaItan-
atabad" and its Surroundings.
In six Months in Persia" Mr.. Edward

ataDau anu IT'S SuFFOunutHSSs
In six Months in Persia" Mr. Edward
Stack writes:
1.-THE palaces ofthe Shah deserve some
notice. did not see his town residence;
but of the many summer lodges which
dot the foot slope ofShimran, saw four
or five, notably Saltanatabad, which be-
ing recent, and on grand
scale, may serve as specimen of the
rest. 1t lies some 600 feet higher than
Gulahek, in the midst of anoble garden,
where poplars and planes give ample
shade, and mulberries, plums, apples,
and cherries caf1 be gathered till one
grows tired. Streams of clear water fin
by the sides of the alleys, and fountains
with pellucid basins fill up the vista in
various directions, while great bank, a
hundred yards long by sixty broad, and
eight or nine feet deep, occupies the
center. Above this standsa large sum-
mer-house. Its central hall, paved with
blue tiles, is polygon of some twenty
yards in diameter; a fountain plays i'll
the middle, and raised dais occupies
recess at one side, The angles are
adorned with frescoes, the work of Per-
sian artists. representing European
scenes, though one cannot imagine What
principle has guided the selection. One
picture shows the lobby of the house of
commons, another the interior of some
large London restaurant, a third, the in
side of church during service, a fourth
the nave of some catbedral. the sum-
mer-housa is three stories high and the
upper floors are laid out IN rooms illus-
Il =,
pictures of joviality and festive proceed
ings between two persons. These are
ludicrous to the last degree, both youth
and maiden being invariably arrayed
in what the artist considered
the latest European fashion, while their
eyes have no regard for their own cor
Germs, but are steadily directed on the
beholder One figure bears the figure
OF a gigantic wasp wasted white Grim
olined damsel in whose lap sprawls a
lover about half her size, with love and
wine at once oppressed; the wine-cup
dangling from his nerveless hand spills
his ruby contents over the white skirt
of his sweetheart. | had the curiosity
to ascend above the third story into the
loft under the roof, and have found 1t
the hottest place | ever entered in my
life: hotter, no doubt, than the piombj
of Venice, for Teheren Is nearer the sun,
and no roof could be much thinner than
the copper aheathing Of this painted
dome"
"Besides this principal summer-house,
there are sevefal other buildings in va
rions parts of the grounds Jue is en-
octogonal tower sixty feet high, mount
ing a series of rooms to the Shah's bed
room at the top. Another is clock
tower of much the Same pattern. An
other is the Shah's menagerie, gallery
filed with pictures of wild animals, some
of which are copied from English de-
signs, such as the picture of the grizzly
bear sitting on pine trunk which bridges
o canon, while he holds the dead body
of d horse under his forepaws-a de-
sign that forms the, frontpiece. If mis-
take u Ut, to the book called THE Great
Lone Land"-but most of them original,
indeed wonderfully and fearfully SO.
The expression of the mouth of the hip
potamus is especially uncanny. The
birds are much better done. A couple
of condors On dead OK are indeed
twice the size of their quarry, bet when
when that point is overlooked
one finds something to adj
Hire In the rendering of the plumage
and in the general pose. The Persians
are most successful in portrait painting
When they lay fancy aside and 90 in for
faithful representation of real men they
can produce very respectable likenesses.
"Perhaps what / have written viii
serve TO show that royal state in Persia Is
half-barbarOus yet, and decidedly deh-
cient in finish. 1t has much that's bright
and striking in color, gliding, and mir
Recommendation, but costliness and
spendor will be looked fer in vain. The
things that seemed to me In best taste
were certain doors and some windows OF
carved wood, were designs and execution
were pretty and delicate. The flooring
of a room in the women's apartment in
Satanatabad was pretty enough: 1t con-
sisted of glass tile laid over a ground
work cf blue rosettes. In the sardava or
underground chambers of the Nigaristan
palace in Teheran City, where Fa h
Ali Shah used to disport himself with
his ladies' in the heat of the summer day,
one can still see, and, if he chooses, slide
bown, the sursura, or shoot of white
marble, rubbed smooth by the while
limbs of that gracious monarch's many
wives, as they used to come gliding into
his royal arms. 1t is an inclined plane,
down which one shoots with considera-
bic velocity in q sitting posture, to
plunge, If not stopped, into a marble
tank at the foot. solemhly slid down
in riding-boots and spurs, feeling that |
inadequately represented the spirit OF
the place.
"0pinion seems to be divided as to
whether the Shah's visits to Europe
have done him good or not. | have
heard it said that one result of them has
been to diminish his respect for the
European Powers. Be this as it may,
Teheran at least has gained something
by the Shah's experience of European
roads"