The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-23
[.Sketched By a "OaH" artist. ]

the hour of opening the doors to-day in
getting the curios placed and the car
penters' and truckmen's evidences of how
it was done cleared away, but the glimpses
that have been obtained during the tur-
MOL present collections OF rare and inter
esting objects sufficient to make an exceed
ingly creditable showing.
That this has been DONE out of the sur
plus earnings OF the Midwinter Fair held
in very bad year for fairs is certainly a
matter for congratulation.
The collection represents curios, repre-
sentative bits of art and handicraft objects
OF interest from every part of the world.
There is the Oriental room, the Japanese,
Chinese, Spanish, forefathers' room and
other rooms; the armor-room, the ivory
room and various collections of distinctive
classes of art work.
The museum represents almost the in
dividual labors of NJ. II. de Young. He
selected nearly all that goes to make the
several collections, or, rather, the one
great collection. In an interview last
evening about the museum, what there is
there and how it was obtained Mr.. de
Young said
This Is simply beginning, to be sure,
mere start but l believe that it will be
found to be a very good beginning and
Will form a distinct, valuable and attract
i've addition to the park. 1t has all been
done out OF the surplus funds of the Mid
winter Fair, and without any call for addi-
tlonal subscriptions, as was necessary at
Chicago, although, withal, that of course
is much more pretentious than ours. But,
In the first place, the expense of preparing
the building for its purpose was very con-
siderable. We have changed the Royal
PAVILION from the fiimsy structure that it
was into a substantial building of brick.
mat alone cost $500. Added to that was
the expense Of fitting up the rest of it, the
ratings, glass castings and all that.
Nv hat are tie things In the collection
IN which take the most pride? Well Won
know the Dore and the Cloisonne vases
They have been pictured and written about
until everybody IS familiar with their
Beauty and value as works of art.
"Well then there are line of Napoleonic
relics from the Mestaver de Guy collection
that are valuable because of their nm
doubted and direct association with Napo-
leon ribbon of the Legion of Honor.
epaulette straps and vestcoat plastron
worn by him, a tube of the telescope used
by the Emperor on his return from Elba in
1915, pieces.of tapestry from the bedroom
and reception-room of his house at st.
Helena. Then there is the solid bronze
statue OF the Emperor, the original model
for the monument erected at Boulogne
where his army camped while contemplate
ing descent on England, as described in
the Mestayer catalogue.
"Fhere is also a remarkably valuable col
lection of Napoleonic medals and coins,
being a collection made by Tiffany for a
wealthy private collector who, when the
list was completed, found himself suffering
SO badly from the financial collapse thai
he was unable to secure it. / think Tiffany
wanted to see the collection 90 out of n eT,
York and / secured it. 1t embraces eyery
coin and medal issued during the Napo-
leonic dynasty-from the first to the third
1t embraces go medals and PSI coins-105l
pieces.
"Well, then there is the armor-room.
where there is a complete collection show
ing the evolution of armor-how it grew
from the mere breastplate and shield of
the original armor-clad knight until it GOV.
cred the body with heavy steel, and then
dropped away again piece by piece as the
experience of the warriors showed them
that they were not often struck on the
shins, for instance, until they finally dis
pensed with the last piece again. This
was secured through Dr. Zahn from the
great Zschille collection.
''In this room are also the three beautiful
wrought iron gates from Germany,
excellent examples of art in this line
which were on exhibition at the Chicago
Worlds Fair.
"The ceramic room and art collection is