24 ON THE OLDER FORMS OF 



Persians ill brick enamelling, and the wonderfully glazed, 

 flat tiles for interior decoration, the palaces and mosques 

 must have presented a most beautiful and brilliant api)ear- 

 ance. In the article "Tiles'' m" Encf/dopcedia jBriiannica,^' 

 it is stated that the roofs of some of these important struct- 

 ures "are covered with magnificent, lustrous tiles decorat- 

 ed with elaborate painting, so that they shine like gold in 

 the sun. They were especially used from the thirteenth 

 to the fifteenth century." From this statement one gets 

 no idea of the form of tile used. 



The high attainment reached in relief work and colored 

 enamels by the early Persians may be seen in the wonder- 

 ful wall made of brick brought back from Persia by M. 

 Dieulafoy, and displayed in a special room at the Louvre. 

 On this wall are depicted in colored enamels a number of 

 archers, known as the Susaarchers. 



TURKEY. 



Photographs of buildings in Constantinople and other 

 places show the universal use of the noimal tile (imb.) ; 

 the semi-cylindrical ridge-tile accompanies it. The Con- 

 stantinople tile seems slightly more angular in section than 

 that of Italy. 



• SYRIA. 



In Jerusalem and'Jaffa, the normal tile (imb.) seems 

 the only roofing-tile in use. The joints between the tiles 

 are often pointed with plaster. 



EGYPT. 



When a tiled roof is seen, it is covered with the normal 

 type (imb.). The courses are laid close together, as in 

 the modern Greek roof, and, as in the Greek roof, the 

 interstices between the tiles at the caves are filled with 

 plaster. 



