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JULY, 1915)
THE DOME IN PERSIA
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Now, however, a new type appears which consists of the former type of dome, covered over by a slightly bulbous shell, which is superimposed on it, leaving a large space between. This type only appears towards the end of Timûr's reign, his early buildings not having this feature. In 1371 he built, at Samarkand, the Mausoleum of his sister Chachuk (Tchouchouck) Bikâ in the group of buildings known as the Shah Zindeh or Living Saint, so called from the grave of Kasim ibn 'Abbâs, who is supposed to be still living, and whose shrine forms the chief building in the group. Both these buildings have single domes, fluted externally, but, when we come to the Mausoleum of his wife Bibi Khânûm, (Plate III, A,) commenced, according to Schubert von Soldern 38 in 1399, and finished in 140334 and his own Mausoleum (Plate III, B.) known as the Gûr Amir, we for the first time meet with the double dome with slightly swelling outline, a type of dome which henceforth became a constant feature in Persian architecture. The mosque-mausoleum, built at Hazrat-i-Turkistán over the tomb of Hazrat Khwaja Ahmad Yesevi by Timûr, which was commenced in 1397 and finished in 1404,35 has a huge dome, similar in shape to that at Sultânieh, 30 but the double dome soon became general,
No explanation of the origin of this peculiarity is to be found suggested in Fergusson's History of Architecture, nor does Russell Sturgis in his recent History of Architecture
(1908) make any comment on it. The same remark applies to Texier, who thought the double dome with entasis was the rule in Persia with the single exception known to him, at Sultânieh, although when speaking of the Masjid-i-Shah at Isfahân, he says that one is led to
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Fig. 16.
Fig. 17.
» Die Baudenkmaler von Samarland.
1 Saladin, Manuel d'art Musulman, Vol. I, p. 434 35 Mir-salik-Boktobourin, Description de la Mosque de Hazrol, in A. P. Khoroohkino, Itindraires de l'Asie Centrale pp. 247-66.
* E. Schuyler, 7'urkestan 1. 70-73, and photograph in F. von Schwarz, Turkestan, p. 200
