Amongst the many beautiful and unique specimens of Chinese art, ete., brought down from Peking by-Foreigners since the fall of that city last August, which brought out large sums of money fron the pockets of connmissenrs into the hands of the lucky Guders, perhaps one of the most unique, we may even sy the most unique—owing to there being no duplicates to. them—is the set of jadestone seals of the Empress Dowager, th" present lucky owner of which is Inv. E, M. O'Brien, an American gentleman, who is returning to the States via Europe, Of course thera were other curiosities in the lot brought down by Mr, O'Brien, of which more anon.
Ths sealskin question are of different sizes, some square and scrae rectangular, and the characters (ancient Chinese Seal characters) on them denote to what Throne-bel Tt isa well-known fact that the hall, pavilion or kiosk in the palaces each
Empress Dowager is very fond of printing in water colours and writing large characters, some as lunge as a foot and a-half square in size, which she likes to hang up in the cliff-rent palaces and Imperial apartments as a proof of her ability in this and which she intends to be trans-martel to posterity. On each of these scrolls of paintings or written characters, her Majesty impresses one of her own julestone s-a's to show to the world that these scrolls are by her own Imperial hand.
OF these jadestone seals the most beautifully carved are a pair of rectangular shaped ones with phoenixes carved on the horders, whilst the characters in the middle denote that they belong to the Yik'un Palace. That is to say. when the Empress Dowager happens to be in the Yik'un Palace whilst writing or painting a scroll she uses these seals on it to show where it, was done, There isanuther pair of sitailarly. shaped seals belonging to thy Lichinghsien Court, onw of which has dragons and the oth ©' phoenixes carved on the borders, As a watter of fact the phomix is the special muk or crest of an Empress or Empress Dowager of the Chinese Empire, while the dragon is the mark of the Emperor. In the p sent, case, however, the Empress Dowager having usurped the trains of Government arrogaies to herself the prerogatives of the Em wr rand therefore she had dragons carved on the borders of one of these seals of the Lichinghsien Court. This makes the pair of seals belonging to that Court the most unique of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.