July, 1919 
19 
A Persian tile embodying a relief design 
in enameled faience. From the 13 th 
Century 
Thirty-two Persian tiles form the com¬ 
position of this panel, 1586 - 1628 . Courtesy 
Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Notwithstanding Mrs. Minch's earlier dis¬ 
approval of the number of trunks and boxes 
which the “lone man” appeared to have ac¬ 
cumulated, she came in time to revise her opin¬ 
ion when it was discovered that though decent, 
the major’s wardrobe had not compelled his 
luggage, whereas wonderful objects of Oriental 
art at once made it clear that the trunks and 
boxes had been put to a very excellent and 
approved good use when their unpacking found 
the major’s house adorned with treasures in 
the way of pottery, brasses, rugs, 
damascened arms, Persian minia¬ 
tures, Indian enamels, gem-en¬ 
crusted jades and what not. 
Frankly, Major Kyttyle might 
have been as miserable with his 
treasures as was Midas with his 
enchantment had it not been that 
some of his neighbors were per¬ 
sons of culture and themselves 
not only appreciative of art but 
versed in some of its branches. 
Otherwise the major would have 
had to depend on whist, which, 
by the way, he played poorly and 
to which he was devoted. 
As for the menagerie, it served 
to bring out the fact that the 
major adored children. His yard 
was always full of them after 
school let out. At first those fond 
mothers who could not be per¬ 
suaded that the major’s several 
East Indian servants were not 
one and the same with the tribe 
of the son of Hagar, were much 
distressed, but when these did not 
steal forth like pied pipers, they 
concluded that perhaps they were¬ 
n't gypsies after all. 
Meeting the Orient 
Good old Major Kyttyle, how 
grateful I am that, mysterious 
though you were, you permitted 
me to browse for hours among the 
curious and beautiful things of 
the Orient that appealed to my 
child-fancy! And the marvellous 
tales you would tell us of their 
history! How patient you were 
with our eager queries! You 
should have been attached to some 
great museum to interpret its 
hoardings to the soul of the 
people! 
It was in your house, in the 
house of the stranger that had 
hi this wall decoration twenty-eight Per¬ 
sian tiles have been used. 17th Century. 
The originals are in the Metropolitan 
come among us, that I formed some knowledge 
of the arts of India and of Persia, a knowl¬ 
edge that made some of the beautiful things 
which had found their way from the Far East 
into my own home greater joys to behold than 
ever before. 
I suppose 1 might have taken down one of 
the heavy volumes of that vast encyclopedia 
which so formidably thwarted youth’s enter¬ 
prise though advertised to foster it, and have 
read therein much of what was told me in less 
pedantic and less academic style 
by the major. 
If I have seemed to linger be¬ 
yond the limits of a preface it is 
not that I started out to write a 
eulogy of Major Kyttyle, but 
rather that in what I am saying 
I hope there can be found some 
hint of the truest sort of collect¬ 
ing, the noblest sort of a collector, 
—one who uses his collection as a 
preacher uses his text, happily 
discoursing to attentive ears and 
not shutting himself up with his 
treasures, like a medieval monk 
of old with book in cell. 
The good major has gone to 
his rest long since. We had sup¬ 
posed him out of the land of 
India, not only because we had 
gleaned from his stories that he 
had spent long years in service 
there, but also because of his at¬ 
tachment for the arts of India, 
which he seemed to hold above 
those of Persia. But when his 
grave was marked, the granite 
shaft provided in his will as a 
last luxury bore simply this leg¬ 
end, “Kyttyle of Khorassan.” 
Mrs. Minch was jubilant. “What 
did I tell you ? A Persian! One 
never knows what with these mys¬ 
terious people.” 
Western Interest in Eastern Art 
It is only within the last half 
dozen years that the arts of India 
and Persia have attracted much 
attention with Americans in gen¬ 
eral. Happily we are out of that 
(Continued on page 50) 
This pair of wooden doors rich¬ 
ly decorated in lacquer of Per¬ 
sian design and workmanship 
are among the oriental treasures 
of the Metropolitan 
