Note 34 — Chapter IX · THE SUPPRESSED OMAR KHAYYAM ETCHING

Professor Cowell here refers to J. B. Nicolas, author of a French translation of Omar, published at Paris, 1867. In a note to Les quatrains de Khéyam traduit du Persan, he says: “In Persia the lantern is made of two copper basins, separated by a shade of waxed calico about a yard high. The lower one contains the candle, and the upper one has a handle for the arm of the ferrásh who carries it. The shade is folded like the familiar ‘Chinese lantern.’ Ornaments are painted on the cloth, and it is to the vacillation of these, as the carrier shifts it from one hand to another, that Omar refers.”