STAR 
^rom 
Address: 
’ at ®. SB 2 : ' ; ; ■ ; 
The Daily Question. 
Answer to yesterday s question 
Through the courtesy of Charles 
T. Freer, the multi-millionaire art J884 
collector of Detroit, who ^as given 
his unique and invaluable c.o ectmns 
to the Smithsonian institution at 
Washington, where a special building 
is being prepared for them, the Un 
versity Museum of Philadelphia has 
been presented with a photograph 
copy of Ma Yuan’s famous land¬ 
scape roil, which the Chinese _ con¬ 
sider “The Greatest Painting m the I 
World,” and there are many artists 
of every Western nation who a&ree 
to this valuation. , 
The original is 42 feet long an 
about 2 feet wide and iS painted 
silk It is more than 700 years o 
and has long been known as the 
most famous of Chinese P amt ! r f® n 
It ranks even higher m China than 
does the Sistine Madonna m the, 
Western World. The painting was 
made to order by Ma Yuan fo 
of the Emperors and has been P - 
served ever since with great care. It 
has a number of commentaries on 
the ends of the silk roll which ^ex¬ 
plain its history and de valuation 
placed upon it. The last notation 
was in 1871. when it was in the Im 
perial Palace at Pekin. 
It is not explained bow it got to 
this country, but the chances are that 
it was part of the loot of 19 0 . - 
Chinese bemoan its loss, but are not 
likely to get' it back, although ht 
probable they would pay a » er 
price than was ever given for any 
picture in the world. Some |ne Sug¬ 
gested that $5,000,000 would be a 
small price. , 
The picture is composed of land¬ 
scape, seascape and portraiture. •- 
las been photographed in a ^ingie 
oiece so that there is not the slight¬ 
est evidence of any piecing or of 
my sectional printing. It is a per- 
iect specimen of reproduction and 
ixpense may be judged by the fact 
hat it took six months to ao the 
vork during which time many fail- 
ires resulted. 
Question for tomorrow: What' is 
he origin of “Shaking hands across 
he bloody chasm?” 
