8 INTRODUCTION. , 



designs and mottoes, according to the taste of 

 that remarkable people. Whether they have 

 ever advanced so far as the grouping or 

 arranging of these delicate tissues into any- 

 thing approaching a bouquet, we cannot say ; 

 as no evidences of their faculty for producing 

 such combinations have reached this country ; 

 or whether, if they had progressed so far, their 

 stiff and awkward ideas of artistic effect would 

 agree with the cultivated taste of Americans, 

 remains to be imagined. 



The works of Chinese art which reach us, 

 whether on lacquered tables, work-boxes, waiters, 

 &c. , show how widely their conceptions of beau- 

 tiful curves and graceful postures differ from our 

 own standards of beauty. But be this as it 

 may, American tourists, within the last few 

 years, have been struck with the great beauty 

 of these Phantom Bouquets, as exhibited in 

 the fancy bazaars of European cities. These 

 were evidently the work of the few who, in 

 other lands than theirs, had acquired a knowl- 

 edge of the art. A number of these bouquets 



