The chief garment of the Vizier is always a long fringed robe, reaching from the neck to the feet.  This is generally trimmed with embroidery at the top, round the sleeves, and round the bottom.  It is either seen to be confined by a broad belt round the waist, or else is covered from the waist to the knees by two falls of a heavy and deep fringe.  In this latter case, a broad cross-belt is worn over the left shoulder, and the upper fall of fringe hangs from the cross-belt.  A fillet is worn upon the head, which is often highly ornamented.  The feet are sometimes bare, but more often are protected by sandals, or (as in the accompanying representation) by embroidered shoes.  Earrings adorn the ears; bracelets, sometimes accompanied by armlets, the arms.  A sword is generally worn at the left side.

The Vizier is ordinarily represented in one of two attitudes.  Either he stands with his two hands joined in front of him, the right hand in the left, and the fingers not clasped, but left loose—­the ordinary attitude of passive and respectful attention, in which officers who carry nothing await the orders of the king,—­or he has the right arm raised, the elbow bent, and the right hand brought to a level with his month, while the left hand rests upon the hilt of the sword worn at his left side. [PLATE CXVII., Fig. 1.] In this latter case it may be presumed that we have the attitude of conversation, as in the former we have that of attentive listening.  When the Vizier assumes this energetic posture he is commonly either introducing prisoners or bringing in spoil to the king.  When he is quiescent, he stands before the throne to receive the king’s orders, or witnesses the ceremony with which it was usual to conclude a successful hunting expedition.

The pre-eminent rank and dignity of this officer is shown, not only by his participation in the insignia of royal authority, but also and very clearly by the fact that, when he is present, no one ever intervenes between him and the king.  He has the undisputed right of precedence, so that he is evidently the first subject of the crown, and he alone, is seen addressing the monarch.  He does not always accompany the king on his military expeditions but when he attends them, he still maintains his position, having a dignity greater than that of any general, and so taking the entire direction of the prisoners and of the spoil.

The royal fan-bearers were two in number.  They were invariably eunuchs.  Their ordinary position was behind the monarch, on whom they attended alike in the retirement of private life and in religious and civil ceremonies.  On some occasions, however, one of the two was privileged to leave his station behind the king’s chair or throne, and, advancing in front, to perform certain functions before the face of his master.  He handed his master the sacred cup, and waited to receive it back, at the same time diligently discharging the ordinary duties of his office by keeping up a current of air and chasing