'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎326] (371/714)

326 PERSIA
or private apartments). Among the many apartments which I
saw, and to which my previous general description will apply, I
Shems-ei- will only here notice the ^Naranj-khanch or OrangGry*
Imaret a particularly pretty building, with water flowing down
a blue-tiled channel in the middle between double rows of orange
trees. It was from here that a passage led into the old anderun; the
new ladies" quarter being on the other side of the palace enclosure. 1
At the further end of the Gulistan, on the eastern side, rises the great
twin-towered pavilion called the Shems-el-Imaret, or Sun of the
Palace, which is such a conspicuous object from the exterior of the
palace on the side of the bazaars. This remarkable structure, which
is, in my opinion, a triumph of fanciful architecture, is built in the
form of two towers, sloping inwards towards the top, and terminating
in two elegant kiosques. A slender clock-tower, with a European
clock, rises from the roof between the two. On the outer or street
sid® ^ or it is built upon the exterior wall of the Ark—its surface,,
which is entirely covered with brilliantly painted tiles, is unrelieved
by a single window, lattices of pierced brickwork answering that
purpose. On the inner or garden side it possesses a number of
balconies and stained-glass windows, while a large Italian portico
in the centre opens on to a flight of steps leading down to the edge
ot an extensive lake. This beautiful pavilion was begun by the
Shah twenty-five years ago, and is certainly a very creditable
specimen of the fanciful ingenuity that still lingers in modern
Persian art. I had thought from the blank outer walls and from
the air of mystery that surrounds this building that it must at
least contain the royal harem ; but this was not the case. Strangers,
are sometimes admitted to the interior, in some of the chambers of
which are to be seen yet other among the many costly presents
that have been sent to the Shah and his predecessors by European
sovereigns. Here, for instance, are the Gobelin tapestries, repre
senting the Crowning of the Faun and the Triumph of Venus, that
were given by Louis Philippe to Mohammed Shah; and here is
the great mechanical clock, with moving figures and peacocks, that
was intended as a present from the Queen to the Emperor of China,
fifty years ago : but, either having been rejected by him or never
having got as far, was bestowed upon the Persian monarch.
1 There stands in the court of the Royal anderun a great plane-tree, called
the Chenar of Abbas All (origin of name unknown), which is held in great venera
tion as an object of pilgrimage.