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The Persian Art Galleries
Limited
Telegraph Address,
Akemenid, London
Telephone Mayfair 501

128 New Bond Street
London, 25th August 1913
3
W

and in return he conceded the monument to me at a price for which it would have been impossible otherwise to obtain it. 

The photographs which I have forwarded as a separate parcel are far from being in a condition to convey even a slight idea of the monument, or of the pieces of which it is formed. It was impossible to get a photograph of the whole Mihrab taken, as it will be months before it can be constructed so as to render such photographing possible. What I send bearing the (No 1a) is a reproduction of an old photograph taken in Persia soon after the piece was removed from the Mosque and temporarily set. This, however, has been useful to me in indicating the positions of various pieces, the photographs of which I have also forwarded. These latter photographs, I am sorry to say, have been complete failures owing partly to the operator, whom we learned was devoid of experience in this kind of work, and partly owing to extraordinary brilliancy of the lustre decoration causing very strong reflection and preventing the reproduction of the elaborate details of the designs. It further served to produce a sad, brownish effect which is quite in contrary sense to the original. 

The photographs are marked with the approximate size of the whole mihrab, and the sizes of various pieces. I herewith enclose the translation of inscriptions. It remains for me to say a word as to material, quality of glaze and lustre, and, above all, the prevailing colors accentuated by remarkable modellings of relief decoration. 

By examining closely, I found that the paste of which this monument is cast is infinitely superior to the paste of other known tiles of metallic reflection, and, therefore, must have been selected with great care. The glaze is exceedingly smooth and transparent - one looks in vain to discover the slightest fault in the whole surface of the monument. It is the quality of metallic reflection that provokes the greatest emotion upon the onlooker. The sparks of ruby and golden