SECRETARY'S REPORT 49 
verses in black nasta‘liqg and gold and polychrome floral designs; verso: 
poems and floral decoration. 0.381 x 0.259. 
48.21. Indian (early 17th century), Mughal, school of Jahangir. A bee-eater, 
by Farrukh Beg, painted in colors on the verso of a leaf from an im- 
perial album; verses in nasta‘lig and decorative borders. On the recto 
of this leaf, a painting of the same period and school shows a bowman, 
musician, and dervish, by Bichitr, in gold and colors, also with verses 
in nasta‘liq and decorative borders. 0.384 x 0.263. 
48.22. Chinese, Ming dynasty (14th century). Landscape in the style of Wang 
Méng (d. 1385); ink on gray paper; two inscriptions and eight seals on 
painting. 0.855 x 0.397. 
48.28. Indian (early 17th century), Mughal, school of Jahangir. Portrait of 
Jahangir, by Abi’l-Hasan (Nadir al-zaman); in colors and gold on 
paper; signature and three inscriptions. 0.388 x 0.257. 
STONE SCULPTURE 
48.16. Persian (dated A. H. 549, A. D. 1154-1155). A building inscription by 
Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Ahmad (Asid or Usaid), carved in a slab of 
alabasterlike stone in the form of a mihrab; covered with kufi and 
naskhi inscriptions. (Illustrated.) 0.925 x 0.676. 
The work of the staff members has been devoted to the study of 
new accessions, of objects submitted for purchase, and to general re- 
search within the collections of Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Arabic, 
and Indian materials. Reports, oral or written, were made upon 
2,563 objects and 372 photographs of objects submitted for examina- 
tion; and 369 Oriental language inscriptions were translated. Docent 
service and other lectures given by staff members are listed below. 
REPAIRS TO THE COLLECTIONS 
A total of 27 objects were cleaned, resurfaced, remounted, or re- 
paired as follows: 
American paintings cleaned and resurfaced-_------------------------- 14 
Chinese: paintings remounted’=_ 4.2223: se aetna. Sot ee aes Se 3 
@hinesewpocteryarepalred:)= 93.28 ch ee ke oe oe ae ca eae 2 
Japanese: paintings remounteds 2-22.22 cee 2 = 2 a8 eee eee ee 7 
— 
Japanesewpoutery Tepaired ease. 225 oe a ee ee ee eee eee hee 
The repair and restoration of the walls of the Peacock Room by 
James McNeill Whistler, mentioned in last year’s report, were com- 
pleted on September 27 and the room was reopened to the public on 
October 4. It was closed again the first of the year and on January 
7, 1949, the work of repairing and restoring the ceiling was begun. 
This involves taking down the ceiling, lining each panel with canvas, 
treating it with moisture-proof wax, and mounting it on a heavy ply- 
wood backing. The painting on the wood is then cleaned with the 
utmost care, later repaint is removed, gilding and paint are renewed 
in areas from which they were gone altogether and the whole thing is 
resurfaced. The work is still in progress on a part-time basis by John 
