SCREEN. 
81 
guests. Beyond them was a screen of curious workmanship, repre- 
senting a vine in full fruit. The whole was worked in relief. The 
fruit was imitated in glass (the Chinese said gems) of different colours, 
with which the artist had expressed, with great effect, its different 
degrees of ripeness, transparency, and bloom. The leaves and ten- 
drils, formed of the same material, were equally well executed ; and 
the trunk carved from the wood of the screen in every respect 
resembled what it was intended to represent. A table covered with 
yellow cloth, and supporting a vessel of smoking incense, stood 
before it : the whole was symbolical of the presence of His Chinese 
Majesty. All around this sacred emblem, carpets were laid in regular 
approach for the accommodation of its faithful votaries. Beyond 
these, an open space was terminated by a stage, gay with all the 
colours that Chinese fancy could suggest. Pots of flowers and dwarf 
trees were distributed over the room, and were often mingled with 
pieces of limestone. Along its sides tables and benches were arranged 
for the use of the Mandarins in waiting, who regaled themselves with 
M 
