THREE MUGHAL MASTERPIECES 75 



Most of these blossoms reappear inlaid on 

 the actual tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah 

 Jahan, and they decorate the famous screen which 

 surrounds the graves. This screen, the flower 

 dado, and the Sultana's bath in the Jasmine 

 Tower of the fort, exhibit to perfection that 

 marvellous decorative feeling which seems inborn 

 in Oriental craftsmen. Each is a masterpiece 

 in its combination of inlaid jewelled colour and 

 delicate marble carving. It is impossible to 

 decide which is the most faultless : the screen, 

 seen in the dim light under the dome, with its 

 lattice-work of lilies and its upper rail, whereon 

 a row of marble vases blooming with never- 

 fading flowers stand round the shrine ; the marble 

 flower-beds without ; or the fountain-bath of the 

 Jasmine Tower. Where the four shallow curves 

 of the fountain basin are carved with the flow 

 of the water, the vivid red and green of the 

 inlaid flowers and leaves shine through the ripples 

 like the pebbles of the wet sea -beach, and 

 the white marble lily-buds seem to float away, 

 dragged down by the swirl of the stream. 



To realise even faintly Shah Jahan's dream, 

 it is necessary to go over to the other side of the 

 Jumna. A crazy ferry-boat plies between the 



