Miscellanies, 397 



by the most celebrated artists of the principal inland cities, including 

 the capital. They represent in the first place all those scenes which 

 are characteristic of Chinese life in its detail, including a series show- 

 ing every process of the tea manufacture, from the planting to the 

 packing up. There are large and handsome views of Macao, Bocca 

 Tigris, Whampoa, Canton, and Honan, with its remarkable temples, 

 &c. The portraits will astonish those who have seen only the paltry 

 daubs usually brought as specimens of the art in China. There is 

 one of the high priest of the Honan temple, and others of distinguish- 

 ed men well known in Canton, worked with the minuteness of minia- 

 ture painting. This department comprises also a variety of paintings 

 on glass, an art much practiced by the natives; pictures ' of all the 

 boats peculiar to the country ; of rooms, their domestic arrangements; 

 of all the costumes of people of rank ; the furniture, lanterns, and, in 

 short, of every variety of Chinese life, from the most degraded class 

 to the emperor. The flowers embroidered on satin, &c., M'ill attract 

 the eye of female visitors. 



A Chinese room,. — At the east end, faced by a very superb alcove 

 brought from China, is a Chinese room. The alcove itself consists of 

 wood deeply carved out of solid blocks ; the carving represents figures 

 of men, animals, birds, flowers, &c. The cutting penetrates through 

 the whole of each piece, and forms a net work, the front being painted 

 and gilt in the Asiatic taste, with the rich colors for which the nation 

 is so celebrated. The screen is a fac-simile of those put up in the 

 houses of the wealthy, to form an ante-room in their large establish- 

 ments. This vestibule vi^ill be decorated with furniture, such as chairs, 

 tables, stands, stools, vases, maxims, scrolls, &c., and in every re- 

 spect will represent a room as actually occupied by the rich. This 

 screen work extends over the tops of the cases the entire length of the 

 north side of the room, and its effect, as seen by the writer, is ex- 

 tremely gorgeous, reminding him of the representations made in old 

 illuminated manuscripts, before the invention of printing in Europe. 

 The colors, violet, blue, crimson, scarlet, &c., are those employed 

 by the illuminators, and lead one to believe that they imitated the 

 Chinese. 



Furniture, books, SfC. — In addition to the furniture contained in 

 this beautiful pavilion, there will be also distributed in the saloon a 

 variety of Chinese domestic articles and utensils. Two dark colored 

 and extremely rich bookcases, which might serve to ornament any 

 library, will display copious specimens of the books of the Chinese, 

 in their peculiar and safe binding, so rarely seen in this country. 

 Specimens of their blocks or stereotyped wood are also in the collec- 



