'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎330] (377/714)

PERSIA
design, execution, nor glaze, do they deserve to be considered
works of art at all.
The bazaars of Teheran occupy a very considerable space in
the old city; although, in common with the rest of the capital
Bazaars tliey have ex P erien ced a much-needed renovation in the
reign of the present king. The main entrance is from
the street opposite the Shems-el-Imaret, and conducts, through an
open courtyard containing a pool of water, and known as the
Meidan-i-Sebz, into the dim, vaulted arcades which are so
familiar to the wanderer in Eastern lands. The Teheran bazaars
are vaulted throughout with a succession of low brick domes
and open frequently upon small courts or squares. They contain
a number of spacious and well-built caravanserais; and there
are few objects ot Eastern use or consumption—from a saddle-
horse to a tea-tray,—which cannot be there procured. Euro
pean merchandise is exhibited on every other stall, and one
of the first and most obvious discoveries is, that Persia clothes
itself from Europe. Another of the most widely-spread but un
intelligible of modern Persian tastes is abundantly illustrated, and
can be inexpensively gratified, in the Teheran bazaars. This is
the fondness, which seems to permeate all classes, from the Shah
downwards, for lustres, candelabra, candle and lamp shades, and
glass vases or ornaments of every conceivable description. I
never entered a Persian prince's or nobleman's house without
encountering a shop's window full of these articles, as a rule
proudly stacked, as though they were rare treasures, upon a table;
and I imagine that a Persian would have no hesitation in pro
nouncing the Crystal Palace to be the maximum opus of the world's
architecture. I shall say nothing about the manner of shops or
mode of selling, about the division of trades or scenes of barter,
in the 1 eheran bazaars; for the reason that they are the same as
in every other town in the East, and have been so frequently
described as to be familiar even to those who have not seen them.
I will merely say that, in arrangement, width of passage, size of
shops, and general structural convenience, they are in advance of
almost any Oriental bazaar that I have elsewhere seen, though
inferior to those which I afterwards saw at Isfahan and Shiraz,
and which may also be seen at Tabriz; but that, as a field of
exploration for the curio-hunter or stranger, they are the most
disappointing in the East. The vendors ask the most impossible