نسخة مذيلة من "بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي" بقلم جورج كرزون، مع أوراق مدرجة [ظ‎‎٥‎٥‎٤] (١٨١٤/١١٢١)

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PERSIA
sculptures at Shapur), his hair is puffed and curled, and his hands rest
in front upon the pommel of his sword. His figure is visible to half-way
between the knees and feet, the latter being hidden from below by a
projecting surface of rock, of curving outline, which has somewhat the
appearance of a rostrum, but which, being smoothed in the form of an
empty tablet, may, it occurs to me, have been originally designed to
receive a subsidiary sculpture. The whole is at the height of several
feet above the ground. Acting upon the hint of the helmet, Canon
Rawlinson suggests as the subject of this bas-relief an incident in the
life of Varahran II., who, having commenced to rule tyrannically, was
taken to task by his principal nobles, instigated by the chief of the
Magi, and in reply to their expostulations, promised amendment and
reform. I doubt, however, whether a monarch would voluntarily select
such an incident in his career for eternal commemoration. Had a
Royal Academy existed in England in the days of King John, would
he have commissioned the President to paint a great picture of Runny-
mede and Magna Carta ?
Adjoining this panel is what Flandin describes as the ebauche of a
figure on the rock, but of which, as I did not notice it myself, I will
quote the words of other writers who did. Morier says : ‘ There is
besides another curious figure at full length, behind the rock, close to the
sculpture, but still making part of the same piece. 5 1 Porter writes :
c At one end, entirely distinct from the group, is the outline of an
extraordinary figure notched in the marble, not unlike the first idle
drawings of a schoolboy.’ 2
Separated only by two or three feet of rock from the bas-relief last
described, is the seventh and concluding one of the series. 3 It is, also,
Seventh. i n probability, the earliest in date, representing, as it
tablet :^ does, a scene which is again pourtrayed on the opposite side
and of the valley in the rock-recess of Raksh-i-Rejeb, as well as
Ardeslnr neighbourhood of Firuzabacl, namely, the investiture
of Ardeshir Babekan, or Artaxerxes, son of Babek or Papak, founder
of the Sassanian line, with the imperial cydaris by the god Ormuzd.
The two main figures face each other on horseback, their steeds, which,
with an excess of disproportion, are here little bigger than stout cobs
or ponies, touching their foreheads in the centre of the panel, whose
total length is over 22 feet. The figure on the right hand of the
spectator, as an inscription on the shoulder of his horse reveals, is that
of the god. Upon his head is the mural crown, with curled hair piled
above it, and subsequently falling upon the shoulders. His beard is
1 First Journey, p. 127. 2 Travels, vol. i. p. 559.
3 Texier, vol. ii. pi. 130; Flandin and Coste, vol. iv. pi. 182; Stolze, vol. ii.
pi. 115 ; Dieulafoy, pt. v. pi. 14, pp. 113-14.