DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0188
160 History of Garden Art
stream, with a fine decorated hall above it of two stories and a vaulted roof. In front of
the hall Alberti saw a wonderful fish-pond, into which streamed the fountain water, and
in the middle of this was a good kiosk, attached by a bridge to the land.
Another Arab villa, which lay between Palermo and Monreale, is particularly
interesting, because Boccaccio mentions it in the sixth tale of the fifth day, calling it
Cuba, from the Arab kubba or domed pavilion. Traces of an important orchard, about
two thousand feet long, have been preserved. " There was a splendid garden," says
Fazello, following older accounts, "with all possible combinations of trees, and ever-flowing
waters, and bushes of laurel and myrtle. From entrance to exit there ran a long colonnade
with many vaulted pavilions for the king to take his pleasure m. One of these is still to
be seen. In the middle of the garden is a large fish-pond, built of freestone, and beside it
the lofty castle of the king."
Looking at these mighty erections of Arab princes, we are on the threshold of the
great period for art in Italy, known as the Renaissance; but the movement in Western
Europe goes to another measure, though now and then very insignificantly affected by
Oriental influence, and has such different curves and lines, and such a different rate of
progress, that this Arabian pocket of land in Western Europe can only be regarded as a
little excrescence, outside the continuity of the great Asiatic culture. The centuries are
linked together, and their cohesion prevents the possibility of any violent and vehement
development such as happened in the West. However that may be, it behoves us to deal
discreetly with the few relics that Western Asia has left us, spared from the storms and
furies of the Middle Ages.
No country has suffered so badly as Persia. After the Arabs, host after host of bar-
barians raided the land; but though in the first fury of their attack they spared nothing,
they yielded in the end to gentler customs, and the culture of the conquered never entirely
perished. The most surprising thing is that such storms only raged above the tops of
the mountains, and the regions that were sheltered and beyond their reach could continue
to flourish, so that the "home" arts made progress—as Ibn Chaldun reports in the
fourteenth century.
Persian ways and thoughts are liable to run into extravagances, and thus we find
mystical sects, sometimes dreadful, such as the Assassins. Marco Polo, who travelled through
Persia, did not himself penetrate into the secrets of the "Old Man of the Mountains,"
but he tells the wonderful story of the "Paradise" wherein he had his disciples carried in
drunken sleep, though this is only on hearsay. The Paradise is a garden such as we know:
the chief had laid out a most handsome place between two hills, and in this valley grew the
sweetest flowers and the costliest fruits that one can possibly imagine. There were pavilions
and palaces of every size and shape on terraces set one above the other and adorned with
gold, paintings, and silken stuffs. Within were many fountains of fresh, clear water, and
here there were streams flowing with wine, milk, and honey. Mandevilie adds, though
he admits he has it only from report, a characteristic that is purely Asiatic: "Over the
head of Prester John there is arched," he says, "a bower of vines with growing grapes,
white and red; the fruit is made of precious stones, the foliage of gold."
When, a hundred years later, Tamerlane (Timur) the Mongol fell upon the whole
of Asia, he destroyed many nations with the sword; but even this bloodthirsty tyrant was
a great patron of the arts, and tried to immortalise every fine feat of arms and every other
stream, with a fine decorated hall above it of two stories and a vaulted roof. In front of
the hall Alberti saw a wonderful fish-pond, into which streamed the fountain water, and
in the middle of this was a good kiosk, attached by a bridge to the land.
Another Arab villa, which lay between Palermo and Monreale, is particularly
interesting, because Boccaccio mentions it in the sixth tale of the fifth day, calling it
Cuba, from the Arab kubba or domed pavilion. Traces of an important orchard, about
two thousand feet long, have been preserved. " There was a splendid garden," says
Fazello, following older accounts, "with all possible combinations of trees, and ever-flowing
waters, and bushes of laurel and myrtle. From entrance to exit there ran a long colonnade
with many vaulted pavilions for the king to take his pleasure m. One of these is still to
be seen. In the middle of the garden is a large fish-pond, built of freestone, and beside it
the lofty castle of the king."
Looking at these mighty erections of Arab princes, we are on the threshold of the
great period for art in Italy, known as the Renaissance; but the movement in Western
Europe goes to another measure, though now and then very insignificantly affected by
Oriental influence, and has such different curves and lines, and such a different rate of
progress, that this Arabian pocket of land in Western Europe can only be regarded as a
little excrescence, outside the continuity of the great Asiatic culture. The centuries are
linked together, and their cohesion prevents the possibility of any violent and vehement
development such as happened in the West. However that may be, it behoves us to deal
discreetly with the few relics that Western Asia has left us, spared from the storms and
furies of the Middle Ages.
No country has suffered so badly as Persia. After the Arabs, host after host of bar-
barians raided the land; but though in the first fury of their attack they spared nothing,
they yielded in the end to gentler customs, and the culture of the conquered never entirely
perished. The most surprising thing is that such storms only raged above the tops of
the mountains, and the regions that were sheltered and beyond their reach could continue
to flourish, so that the "home" arts made progress—as Ibn Chaldun reports in the
fourteenth century.
Persian ways and thoughts are liable to run into extravagances, and thus we find
mystical sects, sometimes dreadful, such as the Assassins. Marco Polo, who travelled through
Persia, did not himself penetrate into the secrets of the "Old Man of the Mountains,"
but he tells the wonderful story of the "Paradise" wherein he had his disciples carried in
drunken sleep, though this is only on hearsay. The Paradise is a garden such as we know:
the chief had laid out a most handsome place between two hills, and in this valley grew the
sweetest flowers and the costliest fruits that one can possibly imagine. There were pavilions
and palaces of every size and shape on terraces set one above the other and adorned with
gold, paintings, and silken stuffs. Within were many fountains of fresh, clear water, and
here there were streams flowing with wine, milk, and honey. Mandevilie adds, though
he admits he has it only from report, a characteristic that is purely Asiatic: "Over the
head of Prester John there is arched," he says, "a bower of vines with growing grapes,
white and red; the fruit is made of precious stones, the foliage of gold."
When, a hundred years later, Tamerlane (Timur) the Mongol fell upon the whole
of Asia, he destroyed many nations with the sword; but even this bloodthirsty tyrant was
a great patron of the arts, and tried to immortalise every fine feat of arms and every other