556 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



ancient mosque of Mansourali are said to be particularly fine. Chateau 

 states that the tunic of the statue of Diana in the Louvre is of the 

 Algerian onyx. Material of the same nature, derived either from 

 Algeria or the numerous caverns of Italy, was extensively utilized for 

 sarcophagi by Eomans, Etruscans, and Greeks, the body and cover in 

 such cases being each of a single jiiece, and in many instances elabo- 

 rately carved. The Etruscan sarcophagus in the Boston Museum of 

 Fine Arts is of material* of this nature. 



Onyx from dei)osits near Lake Oroomia and Yezd was extensively 

 used in the balmy days of the Persian Empire by the native nobles. 

 I am informed by the Eev. Benj. Labaree that it has been used in the 

 form of slabs to lace the elegant fountains or to pave their baths. 

 Small blocks were also used in the doors and windows of their baths 

 in place of glass. "The most beautiful slab I know of," he writes, "is 

 one some 8 by*4 feet, as near as I recall, serving as a table or sideboard 

 in the English consulate at Tabreez. It must be some 4 inches thick. 

 It is of a charming yellow tinge with darker reddish lines shading 

 through it.'' 



Writing on the same subject, the Eev. P. Z. East( n states that the 

 grand staircase of the new palace of the Crown Prince at Tabriz is 

 paved Avith this marble. In the bazaars one finds it employed by the 

 lithographers. Small ornaments, such as saltcellars, vases, etc., are 

 cut from it, and sometimes slabs for table tops. "In cemeteries it is 

 used to some extent, but generally only where the cemetery is inclosed, 

 as otherwise it is likely to be broken and carried off. In Moslem cem- 

 eteries, however, this is not so apt to be the case. I remember seeing 

 a fine block at Maraud, about 40 miles from Tabriz, which had not been 

 disturbed." Mr. Eastou further states that there must be some varia- 

 tion in quality, as in some cases stones which have been exposed even 

 for a comi)aratively short period change in color and become compara- 

 tively valuless, "while in other cases, as in those of the magnificent 

 slabs at the back of the Blue Mosque, which have stood for four cen- 

 turies, and for a century or more have been more or less exposed to 

 the action of the weather, there is comparatively little change." In 

 ancient times, when there was more wealth in Persia, this stone was 

 probably nuich more extensively used, and larger pieces were hewn 

 out. A Persian prince of to-day would hardly incur the expense of 

 moving such masses as the blocks in the Blue Mosque. Morier states * 

 that the tomb of the Persian Poet Hafiz is also of this stone. He 

 describes this as " a parallelogram with a projecting base, and its super- 

 fices carved in the most exquisite manner. One of the odes of the poet 

 is engraved upon it, and the artist has succeeded so well that the let- 

 ters seem rather to have been formed with the finest pen than sculp- 

 tured by a hard chisel. The whole is of the diaphanous marble of 

 Tabriz, in color a combination of light green, with here and there 



* First Journey Through Persia, 1812, p. 104. 



