'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎323] (368/714)

TEHERAN
size and magnificence, was this : that whereas the Persian taste if
restricted to its native art or to the employment of native styles
seldom errs, the moment it is turned adrift into a new world all
sense of perspective, proportion, or beauty, all esthetic perception
m fact, appears to vanish; and in proportion as its choice will
have been correct and refined amid native materials, so does it
become vulgar and degraded abroad. I am sometimes not sure
that our own countrymen can escape the same impeachment, par
ticularly when I observe rich Englishmen triumphantly carrying
away from Japan the gaudy embroideries that are made for them
(done, and which no civilised Japanese gentleman would admit into
his house.
ihe rooms ot which I have been speaking look out on to a vast
garden court, which is entirely surrounded by the various buildings
The of the palace, and which I consider to be by far the
^ ^ pi ettiest and most effective portion of the entire enclosure.
This great garden is divided by paved avenues and gravel paths
into flower beds, tanks, and extensive lakes. Magnificent pines
and cypresses, as well as the more familiar plane and poplar, line
its alleys and create a pleasant shade. It is called the Gulistan or
Rose Garden. Little iron bridges cross the numerous channels,
otten lined with blue tiles, down which the water runs in perpetua
motion; the pools are alive with fish and decked with swans and
waterfowl; elegant kiosques are seen amid the trees. It was in
this lovely garden, and under an entrancing sun and sky, that I
witnessed a royal Salaam, or Levee of the Shah, to which I may
devote a few words in passing. It was the replica, on a smaller
scale, of the great ceremonial that takes place at No Ruz.
Ihe theory of the Court Levee in Persia is not that the sub
jects attend upon, or are introduced to, the sovereign, but that the
Royal sovereign displays himself to his awestruck and admir-
Le vee ing subjects. Accordingly, the two central and essential
attributes of the scene are the monarch being gazed at on the one
side, and the audience gazing on the other. Very little else
transpires, and not more than half-a-dozen persons play any other
part than that of statues during the ceremony. I will describe,
however, exactly what takes place. Upon entering the palace I
was conducted to a chamber where the regulation coffee and kalians
were served. Soldiers and officials were pouring pell-mell into the
palace on every side. Bands were aimlessly tuning up or playing
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