Survey of the Past Year: Visit to Mr. StrehIneck's Great Chinese Collection Not a small part of the note worthy work of the Literary Department of the American Woman's Club during the past Club year, has been the visiting and studying of various collections of antiques which have been collected by -men and women in China, most of whom are well-known because of the valuable pieces they have boom able to acquire. These visits have been of inestimable value to the women of the Club in increasing their appreciation by furnishing the love-hest and rarest examples of the finest arts. The collections visited Auring the year have been those Mrs, F. Ayscough, Mrs. Merriman, Mme. Wu_ Hsing-fen, Mrs. Edward Ezra, Mr. Tang Shao-yi, Mr, L, W. C. Lerden, Mr. Bulow-Ravens, Mr. S. K. Chen, Mr. T. Raaschou, Dr. Stafford Cox, Mr. R. D. Abraham, Mr. Lee Van-Ching, and Mr. E. H. Strehlneck. Most of these collections have been described as fully as was possible in short articles.
The collection of Mr. Strehineck was visited last week by two groups of Literary Department members This collection is well known locally and throughout Cama, more especially by the illustrated catlogue which was published a few yeas ago and which is composed of paintings, sculptures, porcelains, jades, and bronzes. Among the paintings which might be mentioned as particularly outstanding (there were too many to mention in detail) are the floral pieces, one of plu blossoms with snow falling upon them by Huang Chi-tso of the Five row fee and a large scroll by! Yun-Nan-tien, considered the best} flower painter of the Ming period. The subject of this large piece is pink peonies under the shade of tangled boughs of peach and magnolia trees. The landscapes were especially diversified. A scene by Mi Fei of bamboos halihidden in mist, with a cloud swept mountain in the distance, and companion pieces by Wu-Wei of the Ming period. of two elderly friends enjoying a mountain journey together. In one they rest by a winding roadside, one friend reads while the otner pays grave attention. In the second picture, the friends build a fire, while a third person sleeps close by with his face on folded arms. Then there is the one of the benevolent old sage seated on a platform in contemplation of a mountain scene draped with mist; a pair of eagles among bamboo~ weighted with snow; two of bamboos, one in storm, the other the feathery, fairy-like bamboo which resembles ripe oats; a delightful flock of snow-birds by a brook.
The chief treasure among the paintings 1s an al of small scenes by four famous artists the-Sung period: Ma Yuan, Ma
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.