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PAIR OF DOORS FROM THE PAVILION OF CHAHAL SITUN (HALL OF FORTY PILLARS) BUILT BY SHAH ABBAS THE GREAT (A.D. 1588-1629)

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RIZA ABBASI, FAVORED COURT ARTIST, PORTRAYS EUROPEANS AT THE COURT OF SHAH ABBAS THE GREAT (A.D. 1588-1629)

Detail of exquisitely painted woodwork from the Pavilion of Chahal Situn (Hall of Forty Pillars), the Palace at Ispahan built by Shah Abbas.

The young Shah, who was pleased with the leader of the party (Europeans), gave him royal gifts, Sir Anthony Sherley records (1598), including "forty horses all furnished, two with exceeding rich saddles, plated with gold, and set with rubies and turquoises." To these he added camels, tents, and a sum of money.

her old faith, source of sustaining energy; and continued to radiate into these planets of countries and races of the System, her all-stimulating cultural beams, the reflection of which is discernible in all artistic manifestations of those countries. In the field of literature, which is so little known in the western world, the influence is even greater than in the visual art with which we are concerned. Muhammadan literature, be it Arabic, Turkish, or Persian, is Persian in spirit and feeling.[7]