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Description
If I live to be a hundred I know I shall never see a sight more extraordinary than that astonishing trick Erik performed with the coffin.
There was no stage, no visible place to conceal whatever mechanics govern the secret of levitation, and when the sarcophagus began to open a tense, expectant silence descended upon the watching court.
Erik was dressed like a god and wore a mask that has been specially fashioned for the occasion out of beaten gold. He snapped his fingers once and the stone lid of the coffin fell to the floor of its own accord with a deafening thud that made everyone jump. When silence descended once more, he held out one hand, and beckoned toward the sarcophagus with a gesture of awesome authority that left everyone holding his breath. I had enough French now to translate the words that he began to weave into soft, enticing song.

Come forth from your dark sleep.
Come to the angel of doom,
And show the living the fate which awaits…

As the last note died, there was an answering shriek from the coffin, a horrible, heart-stopping wail that chilled us all to the bone. And then, with a faint, eerie rattle, I saw the skeleton rise slowly into the air, and come to rest, erect and unsupported, beside its master.
My gasp was lost among the communal intake of breath as Erik took the skeleton by the hand and led it toward the place where the new grand vazir stood. I saw the man tremble visibly as the terrible apparition approached, and the shah himself leaned forward in his chair, his face a little paler than normal as he watched intently.
The bony visitor from the tomb raised an accusing finger at the grand vazir; there was a tense heartbeat of silence and then, as Erik clapped his hands abruptly, the skeleton collapsed to the floor in a mass of inanimate jumbled bones.
Swooping forward, like some golden bird of prey, Erik retrieved the skull and from its jaw withdrew the prime minister’s signet ring, tossing it at the feet of the stupefied man with a gesture of contempt.
“I trust Your Excellency’s son will prove less careless with his secondhand possessions,” he said pointedly.
[…]
I saw the shah looking at him as he walked away, and there was a certain coldness in his eyes as they rested on this uniquely favoured servant. The political gesture had been aimed at the grand vazir, but neither the shah or the khanum could escape from the associated ridicule that would always attach to the remarriage of the princess now.
I could not help feeling that it was remarkably foolhardy of Erik to risk offending his mighty patron in such a dangerously public manner.
- Nadir Khan, Susan Kay’s Phantom, pg. 231

I started this one back in, I believe, February, but only managed to finish it a few days ago. So, if there's any inconsistency, I'm blaming it on that. This is probably the first picture I've done of Erik in Persia (if you don't count the one I did on that horrible stucco'ed canvas), and I have several more I'm going to be trying from that period. I have to do a tiny bit of research first, though.

Acrylic on canvas; 16x20 inches; seven hours spread over four months

Erik detail: [link]
Skeleton detail: [link]

Description
If I live to be a hundred I know I shall never see a sight more extraordinary than that astonishing trick Erik performed with the coffin.
There was no stage, no visible place to conceal whatever mechanics govern the secret of levitation, and when the sarcophagus began to open a tense, expectant silence descended upon the watching court.
Erik was dressed like a god and wore a mask that has been specially fashioned for the occasion out of beaten gold. He snapped his fingers once and the stone lid of the coffin fell to the floor of its own accord with a deafening thud that made everyone jump. When silence descended once more, he held out one hand, and beckoned toward the sarcophagus with a gesture of awesome authority that left everyone holding his breath. I had enough French now to translate the words that he began to weave into soft, enticing song.

Come forth from your dark sleep.
Come to the angel of doom,
And show the living the fate which awaits…

As the last note died, there was an answering shriek from the coffin, a horrible, heart-stopping wail that chilled us all to the bone. And then, with a faint, eerie rattle, I saw the skeleton rise slowly into the air, and come to rest, erect and unsupported, beside its master.
My gasp was lost among the communal intake of breath as Erik took the skeleton by the hand and led it toward the place where the new grand vazir stood. I saw the man tremble visibly as the terrible apparition approached, and the shah himself leaned forward in his chair, his face a little paler than normal as he watched intently.
The bony visitor from the tomb raised an accusing finger at the grand vazir; there was a tense heartbeat of silence and then, as Erik clapped his hands abruptly, the skeleton collapsed to the floor in a mass of inanimate jumbled bones.
Swooping forward, like some golden bird of prey, Erik retrieved the skull and from its jaw withdrew the prime minister’s signet ring, tossing it at the feet of the stupefied man with a gesture of contempt.
“I trust Your Excellency’s son will prove less careless with his secondhand possessions,” he said pointedly.
[…]
I saw the shah looking at him as he walked away, and there was a certain coldness in his eyes as they rested on this uniquely favoured servant. The political gesture had been aimed at the grand vazir, but neither the shah or the khanum could escape from the associated ridicule that would always attach to the remarriage of the princess now.
I could not help feeling that it was remarkably foolhardy of Erik to risk offending his mighty patron in such a dangerously public manner.
- Nadir Khan, Susan Kay’s Phantom, pg. 231

I started this one back in, I believe, February, but only managed to finish it a few days ago. So, if there's any inconsistency, I'm blaming it on that. This is probably the first picture I've done of Erik in Persia (if you don't count the one I did on that horrible stucco'ed canvas), and I have several more I'm going to be trying from that period. I have to do a tiny bit of research first, though.

Acrylic on canvas; 16x20 inches; seven hours spread over four months

Erik detail: [link]
Skeleton detail: [link]