Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-01-15
BIG COLLECTION
OF CHINESE ART
DISPLAYED HERE

No doubt the finest collection of
Chinese art objects and curios ever
brought to this city is on display in
the windows of the Phelps Dodge
Mercantile company store here.
The collection was brought to
Douglas by Captain G. w. Spoerry
and is representative of both the
modern and ancient Chinese schools.
Due to the limited space many fine
pieces of embroidered linen had to
be left out of the display.
The runner of blue tapestry with
gold and silver metallic thread is
as Gorgeous as beautiful sunset,
while a resplendent madarin coat is
certain to attract much attention.
And then there are crystal beads,
cut from quartz crystal by Japanese,
beautifully carved ivory beads from
Canton, and those red amber beads
from around the Caspian sea makes
one wish to ramble around the high
ways and byways in and out of all
the intereting and secluded alleys,
ever seeking the unusual things just
as did the Captain and Mrs. Spoerry.
They saw China inside and out,
the inside home with them.
Among the other numerous art OBJ
jects worthy of mention is a fine
hand wrought bronze insense burner
with motifs from India in the ele-
plants and their tfappings The
piece is an ancient one, even though
the captain has good story about
it and some similar pieces which he
refused to purchase.
The cloisenne ware is thought by
many to be most worthy of attention.
To be especially noted is the desk set
all in a flowered design with the
initial 49, on every piece.
These pieces aer first fashioned
from copper, then to the copper ves
sci are soldered separately, all the
little gold colored wires forming the
design. The colors are then put on,
separately, the piece being fired in
a white hot furnace each time a
new tint is placed on the vessel The
colors are various minerals and earth
elements. After the colors are all |
on the piece is polished by hand and
lastly gold plated.
1t takes about a month to make
one of the larger pieces There are
a variety of designs in gold and
black, gold and blue, etc
Among the novel and interesting
old egg, encased in clay, lime and I
herbs, the Chinese razor, the cross
bow gun, which is in general use,
the Mandarin buttons and the wild
hoar's tusk mounted with silver, and
fashioned into a perfume bottle to
be suspended from the belt.
The red lacquer box is interesting
and the finer pieces are very ex-
pensive. The original form is daily
dipped into a red paint-like solution
and dried in an oven, for as long as
a year. When the proper thickness
has been obtained, the carvings be-
gin after which one sees a real
work of art The piece shown is a +
crude and comparatively cheap piece, +
but illustrates the work and also
The fact that time means nothing to
Chinese but that they do believe in
obtaining quality.
Another interesting piece is the
carved God of Plenty" the large
black hand carved figure with the
staff in one hand and the fruit in
the other. The wood is a Hu Mu
root and extremely heavy. Notice
the finely inlaid silver wires form
ing the brocaded design in his gar
ments.
The water pipes are of interest.
The bowl holds but a small pinch
IF tobacco, the smoke from which
passes down through water in the
bottom of the vessel before going to
the smokers mouth, thus extracting
the nicotine. II
Another interesting thing to cat
tlemen and others interested in rid
ng is the Mongolian stirrup beauti-
fully done in Cloisene. 1t formerly
had piece of bark in the bottom
to keep the feet from getting cold
or slipping, and while looking at
this notice the brass bride bit from
the Moro country of the Philippines. I