The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1888-09-15

So pray Lord, my God.
That my faith and hope may stand.
Then no care know nor heed,
Guided ever by thy hand
Therefore, let there come what will,
In the Lord my heart is still.
ORIENTAL BRAss-WORKs.
What Traveller in the Far East Finds in
the Way of Pots and Kettles.
The brass platters and dishes and
table-tOps with which our art shops
have lately been so full chiefly come
from Cairo, says the London Globe.
The incessant clatter of the workers in
brass is one of the most striking and
disagreeable experiences of a first visit
to the bazaar shops. The work all
goes on under Your eyes, and your ears
are dinned with the noise of an in
cessant and irritating industry. In front
of the shops you can see the men
squatted at their work, marking out
with compasses the pattern, of the
brass disk or engraving the conven-
tional traccry which deccrates the
segments. These men are generally
good craftsmen and earn sums vary
ing from 10 pence to shillings 4pence
a day. But in the back parts of the
shop the hammer is piled necessarily.
The hammerers are chiefly boys. They
get no pay, only their food. They
are trying their prentice hands, and
much of the stuff they turn out finds
its way to the London and Paris shops.
Connoisseurs in brass readily recog-
nize the distinction between Persian
work and Arab work. The best Per-
sian is done at Bagdad, Teheran, and
lsDahan, and is mostly repousse. The
worst is what is sold at Cairo, and is
chiefly imported from Damascus. a
certain amount Of Persian work is done
at Damascus itself by a colony of
Persian artifcers who have settled
there. But all this inferior work is
destined for the English. or at least
for the European market. There is
one clear distinction between the two
kinds, ineligible even to the least
work you frequently find figures
whether of birds, or animals, or men
introduced into the pattern. In Arab
work this scarcely ever occurs. The
reason is that the Arabs are much
stricter Mohammedans, and literally
interpret and obey the injunction of the
Koran, which forbids the reproduction
of images OF what is in the heavens
above, or in the earth beneath, or in
the waters under the earth.
OF this Arab engraved work it may
safely be said that the best pieces are
always dated. The workmen who
execute it form a very different class
to the workers in the bazaars. They
are artists. and devote themselves to
producing perfect pieces, which are, as
rule, ordered for special occasions.
1t is Tor this reason that while bad
work is very plentiful, the best kind,
really &artisticalIy executed, is rarely
met with. The; good workmen date
the pieces which they produce, and
these dates are almost invariably cor
rect. The canse is not SO much due to
national honesty as to revenue regula-
tons. The dish as a piece of art manu-
facture has to pay a fax to the govern
ment. A mark is stamped on 1T to
show that the tax has been paid, and
the workman puts the date above the
mark. This government mark, called
the mejidi mark. is fac simile OF the
sultan's autograph, and is Identical
with the diverse of the Turkish coins.
Bad brass work, boys work, the kind
of stuff so plentiful just now, is rot
thought worth the stamp, and the gov
ernment mark is merely scratched up
on it. When you get very old pieces
they are sure to be good. What you
know about English china is true
about Persian or Arab brass. Progress,
education, railways, and civilization
have ruined the art In those old days
and they were very old days-two or
three centuries ago or more, the work.
mems aim was TO produce perfect
piece, to emulate former achievements
in the art. and to satisfy a patron who
knew and rewarded good work. Now
it is not the piece but the gross that
is considered, and the only aim Of the
is quantity at low price.
But these eastern manufactures differ
in one respect from our own. Practi-
callv, we can not in Queen Victoria's
days produce as good work as in Queen
1t is said that if you care to
give the price and know where to go
you can get work just rs artistic aud
as perfect now in Bagdad or Constan-
tinople as if the date were four CEN
turies old.
= This kind of work varies locally. In
Cairo, Aleppo, and Bagdad you chiefly
meet with dishes Of all sizes, from
what is used for serving up coffee
little walters, in fact-to great trays,
sometimes five feet in diameter, and
mounted as table-tops. When you
come to Constantinople the metal IS
different in form and material. Here
you chiefly meet with monguls or
braziers, very elegant in design, and
as rule, not engraved. The monguIs
are generally Of copper-brass. Will
melt at a lower temperature-and the
value of them varies exceedingly.
Fouard Pasba, prime minister to the
late sultan, desired to have one OF ex-
ceptional beauty. He gave COM
mission in person to the chief artitlcer
in copper, whose reputation stood very
high. This artists name was Hassan
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