THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
collection of small pieces and fragments of glass and 
pottery and by a few objects in metal, wood, and stone. 
“The most significant Byzantine objects appearing in 
the Freer collection are the Greek Biblical Manuscripts, 
which were found in Egypt. The most important of these, 
now known as the Washington Manuscripts, are Deuter¬ 
onomy and Joshua, the Psalms, and the four Gospels, all 
of which date from the fifth century, and a fragmentary 
manuscript of the Epistles of Paul, which dates from the 
sixth century.” 
One of the chief features of the whole Freer collection is 
the famous “peacock room,” decorated by Whistler for 
Mr. F. R. Leyland in London. The room is said to have 
been designed primarily as a setting for the picture, “La 
Princesse du Pays de la Porcelaine,” which occupies the 
place of honor. The entire room is decorated in the 
peacock motif, and is called a “Harmony in Blue and 
Gold. ’ The room was dismantled, shipped across the 
ocean, and is set up in the Freer Gallery exactly as origi¬ 
nally designed by Whistler. An interesting account of the 
purchase of this room by Mr. Freer was given in the 
International Studio by Mr. J. Oliver Curwood, who 
incidentally shows us one of Mr. Freer’s personal char¬ 
acteristics: 
In nothing has Mr. Freer’s dislike of newspaper no¬ 
toriety been more emphasized than in the incidents sur¬ 
rounding the purchase of the peacock room decorations. 
When Leyland died, connoisseurs in England pleaded that 
the room which had been painted for him by Whistler 
should be purchased by the Government and ‘installed in 
a public gallery for the pleasure and education of the 
coming generations.’ While thousands were pleading this 
cause, no one came forward to offer the necessary funds, 
nor were the men arguing for the preservation of the room 
willing to contribute. But at this time there disembarked 
at Liverpool, an American—a scholarly-looking gentleman, 
with quiet, unostentatious manners, and a Van Dyke 
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