Loving And
Admiring The Great, Or Rather The Big In Plan,[FN#4]} They Care
[P.94]little for the execution of mere details, and they have not the
acumen to discern the effect which clumsy workmanship, crooked lines,
and visible joints,-parts apparently insignificant,-exercise upon the
whole of an edifice.
Their use of colours was a false taste, commonly
displayed by mankind in their religious houses, and statues of the
gods. The Hindus paint their pagodas, inside and outside; and rub
vermilion, in token of honour, over their deities. The Persian Colossi
of Kaiomars and his consort on the Balkh road and the Sphinx of Egypt,
as well as the temples of the Nile, still show traces of artificial
complexion. The fanes in classic Greece have been dyed. In the Forum
Romanum, one of the finest buildings, still bears stains of the Tyrian
purple. And to mention no other instances, in the churches and belfries
of Modern Italy, we see alternate bands of white and black material so
disposed as to give them the appearance of giant zebras. The origin of
"Arabesque" ornament must be referred to one of the principles of
Al-Islam. The Moslem, forbidden by his law to decorate his Mosque with
statuary and pictures,[FN#5] supplied their place with quotations from
the Koran, and inscriptions, "plastic metaphysics," of marvellous
perplexity.
[p.95]His alphabet lent itself to the purpose, and hence probably arose
that almost inconceivable variety of lace-like fretwork, of
incrustations, of Arabesques, and of geometric flowers, in which his
eye delights to lose itself.[FN#6]
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 129 of 571
Words from 35852 to 36117
of 157964
![Personal Narrative Of A Pilgrimage To Al-Madinah & Meccah - Volume 1 of 2 - By Captain Sir Richard F. Burton
- Loving and
admiring the great, or rather the big in plan,[FN#4]} they care
[p.94]little for the - Page 129](../images/travel.jpg)
