The Strand Magazine, Vol. 05, Issue 29, May 1893: An Illustrated MonthlyVarious
General
The Strand Magazine, Vol. 05, Issue 29, May 1893: An Illustrated Monthly
Various
English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
The drawing-room walls are covered with works of art--Sidney Cooper,
George Frip, Müller, J. B. Pyne (who was Müller's master), Absalon (who
designed the grand curtain for Her Majesty's Theatre), and Brittan
Willis are all well represented. Absalon gives "Crecy" and "Agincourt"
as they are to-day. In the latter picture the mill is shown where it is
said the King stood while the Black Prince won the battle. A striking
portrait of Lady Blessington is by Shalon, and there are no fewer than
three valuable portraits of the Queen, one of which is the chalk drawing
by Winterhalter, and the other is the original picture of Her Majesty
painted by Parris from the orchestra of Drury Lane Theatre, a
reproduction of which was published in the third number of this
Magazine, together with the story associated with it, told me by the
late Mr. Henry Graves, who sat by the side of Parris when he made the
sketch. Lewis is responsible for "Interior of a Harem."
"Very expensive man to buy," Sir Robert said. "A few of his pictures
were to be sold, and I attended the sale. One was a little larger than
this, on a similar subject, and I thought I would buy it as a companion
work. But it went for eleven hundred guineas!" Over a fine cabinet are a
pair of dogs in pencil, by Landseer. "Racket" was drawn when he was ten
years of age and "Pincher" a year later. The Satsuma ware and Sèvres
china scattered about the apartment are exceptionally choice, and the
curious cloth which covers the table in the centre of the room--a table,
by-the-bye, which belonged to our Ambassador to France during the great
Revolution of 1793--came from the Sultan's palace at Constantinople, and
is worked with His Majesty's name in silk in the centre.
But what is unquestionably the most interesting among the contents of
the drawing-room is the cabinet of Japanese ivories. It contains
probably the finest collection of such Japanese handicraft in miniature
in the kingdom. There is everything in ivory, from a beggar with his
rosary to a beauty with painted cheeks and almond-shaped eyes. You may
handle the quaintest of ideas carried out in ivory; a skeleton carrying
a baboon--calculated to beat Holbein's "Dance of Death" all to pieces;
skulls with cobras intertwined--indeed, the serpent is everywhere; and
all with some mystic meaning.
[Illustration: THE DRAWING-ROOM.
_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._]
[Illustration: THE DRAWING-ROOM.
_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._]
"The date of the workmanship of these," said Sir Robert, "must go back
for centuries."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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