46 
House & Garden- 
TREASURE CHESTS of FAR CATHAY 
Symbols of Materialism though They May Be, There Is About 
Them Much of the Mystery of the Far East in Medieval Times 
Original Pieces and Modern Reproductions 
MARGARET MEADE 
taches to it, and we carry 
about with us the delicious 
consciousness of a secret. The 
love of mystery is elemental 
and eternal. Just as children tor¬ 
ment each other by hinting of 
“secrets” which they could tell if 
only they would, the lure of the 
unknown is the motive that 
prompts half of human action. 
Centuries before the Roman 
legions had landed on the dreary 
coast of Britain, and found it 
peopled with half-naked bar¬ 
barians, there was a civilization 
in the Far East that was already 
old. The traditions of China 
were even then venerable, and its 
suave and cultured people were 
skilled in arts that the rest of the 
world was just beginning to 
understand. Perhaps it is the im¬ 
mensely ancient lineage, or per¬ 
haps it is the native genius of the 
Oriental mind, but of all those 
silver cabinets and 
other like pieces 
On the old Korean cash box rests a 
Songdo cabinet surmounted by a red 
lacquer dressing box. Flanking the last 
are two incense burners 
who deal in mystery, there is none so cun¬ 
ning, so baffling and so alluring as the Chi¬ 
nese. Who but a Chinaman could have made 
the first of those treasure chests which add to 
the bare fact of protection all the pomp and 
circumstance of polished brass and symbolic 
inscription? The Chinese are a ceremonious 
people, with a fondness for the intricacies of 
etiquette and form, and they went about the 
guarding of their 
treasures with the 
same elaborate nicety 
which characterized 
their weddings, phil¬ 
osophy and religion. 
Strictly speaking, 
these chests and treas¬ 
ure boxes should be 
called Korean, for 
they were originally 
made in that penin¬ 
sula. But though the 
Koreans are said to be 
(Continued on p. 70) 
A reproduction in 
which engraved brass- 
work is seen at its 
best 
A cash box of ancient Songdo, made of 
Kui Muk wood and resplendent with 
brass. The miniature chests above are 
of red lacquer, brass bound 
T he sagacious Oriental, whose wisdom is 
the wisdom of the ages, knows the true 
value of locks and keys and all the fascinating 
paraphernalia of secrecy. Although at first 
thought such things may seem to be veritable 
symbols of materialism, they have a spiritual 
worth that is the possession of the elect. 
It is not necessary to be lavishly endowed 
with the goods of this world in order to need 
a treasure chest. We 
must indeed be poor 
in fact and in im¬ 
agination, not to have 
some cherished be¬ 
longing that we guard 
jealously from alien 
eyes and hands. Put 
that possession behind 
the protection of locks 
and keys, hide it with¬ 
in a secret drawer, 
and it assumes a new¬ 
er importance. A ro¬ 
mantic interest at- 
Pieces made today 
embody the wood and 
brasswork of the 
originals 
