Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
William L. Sheldon
THE
M. H. DE YOUNG
MEMORIAL MUSEUM
GOLDEN GATE PARK
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
"THE POOL OF ENCHANTMENT"
Creation of M. Earl Cummings, noted California sculptor. The figures In the
pool are of bronze. Situated in front of main entrance to the Museum.
Story of its foundation and the objects of its founder.
Description of its various galleries.
Brief sketches of the most notable exhibits
with accounts of their origin.
THE
M. H. DE YOUNG
MEMORIAL MUSEUM
GOLDEN GATE PARK
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Story of its foundation and the objects of its founder.
Description of its various galleries.
Brief sketches of the most notable exhibits, with
accounts of their origin and of the
periods of history and industries
represented by them.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE PARK COMMISSION
PARK COMMISSIONERS FORMALLY
ACCEPT MEMORIAL MUSEUM GIFT
Pledging themselves to carry out the wishes of M. H. de Young in
regard to conducting the Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park as a
public museum, with free admission and its doors never closed, the Park
Commissioners yesterday afternoon completed the formal acceptance of
the gift, at the same time extending to Mr. de Young their official thanks
for the generous donaton.
The Commissioners accord to the museum the title of "M. H. de Young
Memorial Museum," under which name it is recorded in the official docu-
ments of the board.
The resolution formally accepting the gift follows:
"Whereas, M. H. de Young has erected in Golden Gate Park in the
city and county of San Francisco a museum building known as the
M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL, MUSEUM, and has installed therein
numerous works of art, as well as many useful and important educational
exhibits; and
"Whereas, Being desirous of securing for all time to the people of the
city and county of San Francisco the free and continuous use and enjoy-
ment of this building and of the exhibits installed therein as a permanent
museum, Mr. de Young has offered to the Park Commissioners of the city
and county of San Francisco a deed whereby he undertakes to transfer
all his interest in and to these valuable properties to the Commissioners,
to be administered by them as a public museum under and pursuant to
the powers and duties prescribed for their official conduct in Article XIV
of the charter of the city and county of San Francisco; now, therefore,
be it i ill
"Resolved, That the Park Commissioners of the city and county of
San Francisco accept the said deed and the said property, and undertake
on behalf of themselves and their successors in office to administer the
same as a public museum under and pursuant to the powers and duties
prescribed by law for their official conduct as aforesaid; and be it further
"Resolved, That the Park Commissioners of the city and county of
San Francisco hereby express to Mr. de Young on behalf of themselves
and on behalf of the people of the city and county of San Francisco their
appreciation of his spirit of active and unselfish endeavor to enrich and
beautify the city, a spirit which has borne fruit in the construction, orna-
mentation and equipment of a building which will serve an increasingly
important purpose in affording- to all an opportunity for education, recre-
ation and the appreciation of the arts, a spirit whose reward is that most
lasting of all monuments, the well-deserved gratitude of a body of citi-
zens, not for the present merely, but for all time, a spirit which will ever
serve as a guide and inspiration to all truly public-spirited citizens in the
years to come; and be it further
"Resolved, That these resolutions and preamble be spread upon the
minutes of this meeting and that a copy of the same be presented to
M. H. de Young.
HERBERT FLEISHHACKER, President
JOHN A. MCGREGOR A. B. SPRECKELS
M. EARL, CUMMINGS WILLIAM HUMPHREY
Park Commissioners of the City and County of San Francisco
JOHN McLAREN, Superintendent JAMES DE SUCCA, Secretary
— S. F. Chronicle, January 20, 1921.
HON. M. H. DE YOUNG
Founder of Memorial Museum.
CONTENTS
Page
Resolution of Acceptance 3
Story of San Francisco's Treasure House and Its Contents ... 9
Story of Midwinter Exposition 10
The Museum Buildings 19
A Popular Institution 23
Galleries Devoted to Oil Paintings 25
The Corridor Exhibits 37
Water Color Gallery ! 39
Work of California Artists 41
Gallery of Engraving and Etchings 42
Jewels, Jade and Rock Crystal 44
Miniature Collection 54
The Coin and Medal Gallery 56
The Mineral Galleries 59
The Musical Instrument Gallery 61
Textile and Embroideries Gallery 65
Statuary Hall 74
The Exhibit of Tapestries 84
The Ceramic Collection 90
The Oriental Gallery 100
The Arms and Armor Gallery 108
The Furniture Galleries 120
The Mission and Pioneer Gallery 124
California Wood Exhibit 129
The Nautical Gallery 130
Indian Basket Collection 136
America^ Indian and Alaskan Gallery 139
A Gallery of the South Seas 143
Egyptian and Pompeian Gallery 145
The Ecclesiastical Gallery 152
Art Metal Gallery 156
Pipes, Shoes and Mexican 159
The Clock Collection 162
Royal Bavarian Pavilion . 164
The Napoleonic Collection 166
Greek Statuary 169
Historical Objects 171
The Colonial Exhibits 173
Natural History Galleries 176
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
Portrait of Mr. M. H. de Young 5
Bronze Casting, "The Vintage," by Gustave Dore 22
Marble Statue, "King Saul," by W. W. Storey 36
Chinese Cloisonne Vase 50
Japanese Cloisonne Vase 50
Marble Statue, "Merope," the Lost Pleiad, by Randolph Rogers . . 68
Fourteenth Century French Shrine 86
Marble Bust, "California," by Hiram Powers 104
Giant Fo Dog 120
Chinese Incense Burner 120
Two Dresden Vases 136
Mantel Set of Sevres Ware 136
East Indian Teakwood Settee 152
Collection of Artistic Carved Ivories 166
THE M. H. -DE YOUNG
MEMORIAL MUSEUM
THE STORY OF SAN FRANCISCO'S TREASURE
HOUSE AND ITS CONTENTS
By MARJORIE C. DRISCOLL
HE story of the San Francisco Memorial Museum,
rising among the trees of Golden date Park, goes
back to a day in the summer of 1893, when to
M. H. de Young, in Chicago as National Commis-
sioner at large to the Columbian Exposition, there
came the idea of a similar exposition for San
Francisco. Out of the inspiration of that day
grew the California Midwinter Exposition of 1893
and 1894, and out of the Midwinter Exposition
grew the Memorial Museum.
The history of the Museum is very largely, particularly in its early
years, the history of Mr. de Young's determination to carry through
his splendid project, his refusal to be daunted by discouraging circum-
stances, and his magnificent and continued generosity to the institution
he founded.
It was through Mr. de Young's initiative and under his direction
that the balance remaining from the Midwinter Exposition was ex-
pended in the wise purchase of exhibits to be installed in the first
museum building. The principal buildings of the group of three, the
unit begun in 1917 and that completed in the fall of 1920, are his gift
How many thousands of dollars he has personally spent for rare treas-
ures to be installed in the museum galleries, no one knows, not even
Mr. de Young himself, for very early in his career as a purchaser and
donor he formed the habit of keeping no record of the amounts expended
on his collections lest, as he himself says, the sight of large totals in
cold black and white could chill Ms enthusiasm and, perhaps, hold
him back from the purchase of some desired article. The labels affixed
to the exhibits tell the story, however, and the visitor to the museum
is quickly impressed with the fact that there Is no room nor gallery,
nor even a class of exhibits, to which Mr. de Young has not been a
generous contributor, many times the principal donor.
Story of Midwinter Exposition
How the Founder of the Memorial Museum Came to Be a
Collector — His First Plans for Commemorating an Im-
portant Event in San Francisco History — the Growth of
the Collecting Habit — the Work Involved in Gathering
Articles for Exhibition — Mr. de Young Relates Interest-
ing Experiences.
Mr. de Young was appointed National Commissioner at large (o
the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893, the appointment coming
from President Harrison. Shortly afterward he was elected vice-presi-
dent of the National Commission.
Fulfilling his duties in this position, Mr. de Young was brought
into close touch with many foreign exhibitors and he found them most
favorably disposed toward his plan for a California exposition, to
which they might send their collections. With this encouragement,
he called a meeting of Californiahs then in Chicago and at the same
time began a campaign in San Francisco to arouse enthusiasm for
the plan.
Expressions of interest and willingness to aid came from the Gov-
ernor of California, the Mayor of San Francisco and from the general
public, stimulated by the support given by the press. But the year
of 1893 was a period of financial depression and many San Fran-
cisco business men feared to embark on an enterprise that promised
to be such an expensive one. Notified of this attitude, Mr. de Young
immediately telegraphed his personal subscription of $5000 and new
life was given the campaign in San Francisco.
Meantime, on June 11, 1893, the Californians in Chicago held their
meeting at the call of Mr. de Young. Foreign exhibitors pledged tbair
support in sending exhibits to San Francisco. Subscription lists were
circulated and a total of $41,500 was pledged.
Although the San Francisco public was by this time heartily In
favor of the plan, there was still considerable doubt in the minds
of the cautious business men who made up the Western committee.
Unwilling to proceed without convincing proof that they were taking
no serious risk, they appointed a special investigating committee of
fifty members. The committee considered the de Young plan from
all angles, went over in detail the estimates and suggestions sub-
mitted by Mr. de Young, and finally recommended to the general
committee a plan for permanent organization, the principal feature of
which was a proposition to erect on land in Golden Gate Park, four
buildings, the aggregate cost not to exceed $500,000.
This was the material with which Mr. de Young had to work
when, In the summer of 1893, he returned from Chicago and was im-
mediately named president and director-general of the proposed expo-
sition. To assist him, a State advisory board was named, including
STORY OF MIDWINTER EXPOSITION 11
representatives from Northern and Southern California, sub-commit-
tees were formed and active work was started.
Mr. de Young's original idea, had been to erect one building on
a twenty-acre plot. Realizing that one building and twenty acres
would be entirely inadequate to give space for the quantity of exhibits
already in sight, he startled the Park Commissioners by a request for
200 acres.
Golden Gate Park was then very largely a barren waste of sand
hills and thickly growing chaparral, not yet planted to the luxuriant
masses of trees, flowers and shrubbery that cover it today. Long
debate on the part of the Park Commissioners finally resulted in the
grant of Concert Valley, a section of the desired size, but an unat-
tractive and unbeautiful array of sand hills on which grew sparse
underbrush. Concert Valley was given for exposition purposes on
the understanding that it should be returned in such shape that per-
manent improvements might be carried out as planned by the Com-
missioners.
August 24, 1893, was the day of the ground-breaking. A parade
moved to the designated spot, an unusual parade, for in the line of
march were teams, grading wagons and workmen in their working
garb. As the closing words of the dedicatory speech were spoken, the
first team and the first gang of workmen moved into the grounds,
and, by the time the crowd had dispersed, the work of grading was
going ahead at full speed.
January 1, 1894, was set as the opening date, leaving only four
months to get ready. The plans called for four principal buildings,
surrounding the Grand Court of Honor, buildings devoted to Manu-
factures and Liberal Arts, Horticultural and Agricultural, Mechanical
Arts and Fine Arts, the last named of which was to become the nucleus
of the museum. In addition to these were the Administration build-
ing, Festival Hall, county and State buildings, buildings erected by
foreign exhibitors, including the famous Royal Bavarian Pavilion,
the Chinese building, the Japanese tea garden, still in operation, and
the Midway.
Although it was found impossible to open the exposition on Jan-
uary 1, as planned, the ceremonial opening did take place in January
— on January 29 — with a spectacular parade and elaborate opening
exercises.
On the first day the attendance was registered as 72,248. Be-
tween January 29 and July 4, the period of the exposition, the total
attendance was 1,315,022.
Unique among world's fairs, the Midwinter Exposition closed
with a financial balance in its favor. After* meeting all expenses,
providing for all prizes, certificates and other matters, and complet-
ing its work, the fair showed a balance on hand of more than $75,000.
This, with the improvements made at Concert Valley, reached a total
of $194,051.49, and this sum was turned over to the Park Commission.
It was decided to permit the Fine Arts building, the Egyptian struc-
ture that forms part of the present museum group, to remain, and in
accepting the gift the chairman of the Park Commission said:
"In years to come this building will remind our people that in the
years 1893 and 1894, in the midst of almost unprecedented financial
depression, an industrial exposition was here projected and carried
to a successful termination."
It was because of this thought that the museum, which finally
grew out of the exposition, was named the Memorial Museum; not a
12 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
memorial to any person or persons, living or dead, but to the Mid-
winter Exposition.
The final disposition of the Fine Arts building and the money
remaining from the exposition was uncertain for some time, until the
exposition directors decided to place the matter in the hands of Mr. de
Young, who had served as director-general of the exposition, to use
the building and the money for the benefit of San Francisco in what-
ever way he saw fit.
Immediately Mr. de Young decided that a museum should be
created, and immediately he found himself in another struggle to
convince the Park Commission that his idea was practical. The for-
mation of collections was no new idea to him, however, for his thought
of such a collection for the education and recreation of the city was
far older than the Midwinter Exposition.
"Most intelligent men and women," he said in his own account of
the founding of the museum, "go through life with fads, some for
literature, some for art, some for gathering things. When I was a
young man, and my business as a newspaper man took me to many
places and many stores, I acquired a fad for antiquities, but I did not
have the money to buy them and I passed along.
"I do not know how I got the fad, but I began by collecting
stuffed birds. I had more than 300 of them. Then, in the course of
time, I went to an auction and bought a large collection of Chinese
carvings. I had to take the birds out to make room for the carvings,
and I thought I would give them to the city. I told the Park Com-
missioners about it, and they laughed. They would not take them,
and at last, for there was no room in my home for them, I had to put
the birds up at auction. The auctioneer returned me $56 for a col-
lection that cost me $600. Never to this day have I forgotten that
$56. It burned a hole in my brain. I did not want to dispose of them.
I wanted to keep them. That is where I got the museum bug.
"Years after that, when we held the Midwinter Fair and it was
seen that the proceeds were going to show a profit, I told the directors
that I* was going to create a museum in the Park with the money.
The next thing was a building. I sought the distinguished gentleman
at the head of the Park Commission, Mr. Stow, and he told me that
we could not leave any building in the Park. He said that a museum
did not belong in the Park. That made me angry. I said:
" 'Every great museum in the world is in a park. In Central Park
in New York, the great Metropolitan Museum is on one side and the
Museum of Natural History on the other. The great British Museum
is in Bloomsbury Park; the great South Kensington Museum is in
Kensington Park, the Ltmvre is in a park, the Berlin Museum is in
the Thiergarten, in Vienna the great museum is in Prater Park.'
" 'All right,' he said. 'Your argument is good. Put your museum
in the Park if you want to.'
"I knew what I was about when I insisted that the museum, should
be in the Park. Art buildings, museums, or any kind of exhibitions
which are in the heart of a great city, down where the business is
conducted, do not attract the multitude. When the people have a
little leisure time, they do not go downtown, where the streets are dead
and where there Is no life. They go to their parks. And that is the
logical place for a museum.
"I was in New York one Sunday and started to wander around
to see the various places of interest. I went out to Central Park,
where are located the Metropolitan Museum and the Natural History
STORY OF MIDWINTER EXPOSITION 13
Museum. I found them both crowded. I went to the New York His-
torical Museum downtown and there I found just three people. At
another downtown museum I found no one at all.
"This shows the natural tendency of the people. When the stores
are closed, they do not want to go down into the town; they want to
go to their parks, where there are all kinds of amusements, where
there are big grounds and grass and trees and small lakes of water
and things of interest to see. If there are also places of interest,
which are educational, like our museum, they flock there.
"The Memorial Museum and the Academy of Sciences are located
in our Park, and inquiries show that more people visit these two
places on Sundays than any other place of interest in San Francisco."
Once given permission to go ahead with his project, money to
spend on it and a building as a nucleus, Mr. de Young made another
discovery. He was told that museums could not be created to order
and that the Pacific Coast, far from art centers and places where the
historical treasures of antiquity • could be found, was an impossible
location for a museum. The latter statement he proceeded to dis-
prove, but the first warning he found was quite true. However, with
faith that the people of San Francisco wanted a museum and would
support him in his efforts to build one, he went ahead.
"I found that museums don't grow in a day," he said in a speech
to the San Francisco Club in 1918. "The great museums of Europe
took hundreds, sometimes thousands of years to grow to what they
are now, and I found, after I started my task, that it was hard, slow
work.
"When I began my excursions into the byways of San Francisco,
I was astonished at the number of interesting things, sometimes whole
collections, that I found. In New York I went through the curio shops,
second-hand stores and odd corners. There, too, I went to Tiffany's
and there my education in museums went several steps ahead. My
training in museums went along step by step, like a baby's education
in life. When I thought that I knew a good deal about them, I found
that I didn't. Aj^ Tiffany's I learned some more.
"Upstairs there I found a collection of old armor and other things
that had come from the Chicago Exposition. One case held a col-
lection of knives and forks that went back almost to the days of
Adam and Eve. With my chest all swelled out, I said to the man
in charge that I thought of buying this case.
" 'That will be sold at a reasonable price,' he said. 'Only $80,000.'
"At once I knew that I had something to learn about collecting.
So I determined to learn it, and I took the man to luncheon.
" 'Tell me seriously,' I said, 'why those knives and forks are given
such a price as that. They never cost that much.'
" 'Of course not,' he said. 'You don't understand the museum game.'
" 'I do not,' I said, 'but I'd like to.'
" 'Why, the man who made this collection devoted fifteen years or
more to getting it, going from country to country and searching in-
defatigably. Now if you or anyone else wants a collection of knives
and forks, you must either buy this, and pay for the work of those
fifteen years, or make it yourself.'
" 'I see,' I said, and to myself I added, 'I can't afford to buy
collections, but I've got a good long lease of life ahead of me and
I'll make them myself.'
"One of the first collections I made was the collection of knives
and forks now in the museum.
14 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
"Now I have the collection habit. If I am to stay over between
trains for no more than an hour, I go into the antiquarian stores
and poke around, and, as often as not, I find something of worth."
The auction rooms of Paris have been the hunting ground where
Mr. de Young captured a great number of the hundreds of exhibits
that bear his name. Visiting Paris year after year and attending
the great sales held there, Mr. de Young is known as one of the
shrewdest and most untiring buyers of all those who flock to the
auctions. Curiously enough, only a very few of the dealers and rival
buyers know his name, for, although he has attended many auctions,
he transacts all business details through a French house and his
name does not figure.
How his education in museums was continued in Paris was inter-
estingly told in a speech given by Mr. de Young some years ago for
a San Francisco club.
"When I went to Paris to buy for the museum I found that I
still had much to learn," he said. "The first thing I priced at an
antique shop was an ivory urn. Ivories at that time were selling at
reasonable prices, but the dealer asked me 6000 francs for the piece
— the beautifully carved vase which for years has been one of the
finest pieces in the Jewel Hall ivory collection.
"It seemed to me that 6000 francs was rather too steep a price,
although the vase was a very fine piece, and I began to wonder how
much the dealer had added as his own* profit. I said to myself: 'I
am as good a business man as these antiquarians, and why shouldn't
I buy where they do?' I was told that they bought at the Hotel Drouot,
the great Parisian auction mart, conducted under the most rigid rules.
"The next morning I wandered down to the Hotel Drouot. I asked
many questions, but I did not get much information. I saw the build-
ing and it was very interesting, the institution was interesting and
the system was interesting. There were numerous rooms for auc-
tions. Downstairs they sold the things of lesser value, old mattresses,
cheap furniture and the like. But upstairs were ten or twelve large
halls, each with a number. That was where they held the auctions of
fine things — the museum things — the things of value. And every morn-
ing these rooms were filled with exhibits. They have an auction in
four or five rooms one day and the next day they have auctions in
another set of rooms. There are printed lists, stating where the dif-
ferent things are sold — in one room the engravings, in another the
carpets, in another the paintings and so on. I found that while the
seller had to pay the auctioneer, the buyer also had to pay the auc-
tioneer for the privilege of buying.
"The auctions are held in the afternoon, never in the morning,
which is very convenient for people who believe in taking life easily
and having breakfast at noon.
"A Paris friend of mine and I strolled down to one of these sales.
It was a sale of splendid things, a regular museum in itself.
"They had a long table running through the room, around which
the buyers sat. There was an expert in charge. He is a government
official and is responsible for giving the buyers an accurate report
on the authenticity of everything put up. He will hold up an old
chair, for instance, and say: 'This is genuine Renaissance. It has one
new leg and the cover is new, but the rest is genuine.' You accept
his report as correct. If you buy something on his recommendation
and later find that it is spurious, you are entitled to take it back and
the expert is responsible.
STORY OF MIDWINTER EXPOSITION 15
"One thing about the sales is puzzling to the new buyer. You never
know whether the man in charge will start with the first article on
the list or the last one. Naturally he has friends among the buyers
and very often there are previous agreements that certain articles
will be held until late in the day or put up early before the crowd
gets there. Never did they go by the catalogue. The auctioneer would
jump from one to ten, from eight to forty-nine or to any other num-
ber he wished. You could not tell when he would get to the articles
you particularly wanted; the only thing to do was to arrive early
and wait patiently.
"On that particular occasion I was after six marble busts of Roman
emperors, the six that now stand in Statuary Hall at the museum.
My friend and I waited all the afternoon, while the auctioneer put up
first one thing and then another, but never the busts I wanted. At
last my friend had to leave, but I stayed. It was then that he told me
to give his name as security and to order whatever I bought sent to
his establishment. I did so, and have done so ever since. They do
not know my name at the Hotel Drouot to this day.
"There were only eleven people left when the auctioneer brought
out the things I was after. The bidding ran up 50 francs at a time, but
at last I got the busts. I had learned how to manage at a Paris
auction.
"Two days later dealers were offering me double what I had paid
for the busts, but I would not sell. I never will sell anything I
buy, because I know what I want and buy only that.
"I tell you this that you will see some of the trials and tribula-
tions I have had trying to get things for the museum. It is anxiety
to get things. There is no end to its desire for more and more."
Founder's day for the Memorial Museum falls on March 23. It was
on March 23, 1895, that the building and exhibits were turned over to
the Park Commissioners, in whose hands the administration of museum
affairs has since rested. There was one building, the small Egyptian
structure that now forms the easternmost of the three in the museum
group, and had formerly served as the Fine Arts building for the Mid-
winter exposition. Annexed to this with connecting galleries, but, from
the outside, forming a distinct unit, was an unusually interesting small
building of three rooms — the Royal Bavarian Pavilion, also a Midwinter
Exposition inheritance.
Since one of the objects in creating the museum was to make it a
memorial to the Midwinter Exposition, the first purchases were naturally
among the most valuable and important collections of that exposition.
Notable among these were the "Cider Press" bronze, which, although
not strictly a museum exhibit, stands directly opposite the old building,
and the great Dore vase, "The Vintage."
Mr. de Young continued to make purchases, including an extensive
collection of antique and modern bronzes, many articles from the
Oriental exhibits, and the nucleus of the present splendid collection
of ceramics, embracing fine specimens of Sevres, Doulton, Royal
Worcester, Dresden and other European wares, and a large
number of Oriental pieces. The beginning of the present col-
lection of Indian and South Sea exhibits was also made at
this time. Other purchases included a considerable number of
Egyptian and other antiques, jewelry, objets d'art, coins, minia-
tures and mosaics, examples of art metal work, ivories, a part of the
present Napoleon collection, furniture, tapestries, weapons and other
trophies, plaster casts, wood carvings, musical instruments, minerals,
16 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
watches, etchings and sketches, paintings, historical documents, natural
history material and other exhibits.
Several months after the close of the fair Mr. de Young went to
New York, and there was fortunate enough to secure at a sale
a collection which the New York Times then declared editorially was
"of greater value artistically, instructively and in point of curiosity and
scope than is possessed by many cities which have long had public
museums."
The collection included armor, gems, bronzes and glass. The
armor came from the famous Zschille collection, which was offered
to the Metropolitan Museum of New York for $580,000. The portion
purchased by Mr. de Young consisted of fifteen complete suits of the
period from 1450 to 1620, and other specimens such as swords, halberds,
helmets and pikes. The purchase was made at a time when the country
was still in the throes of financial depression, and consequently Mr. de
Young, coming forward at the psychological moment, was able to obtain
this valuable collection at an exceedingly reasonable figure, many times
less than its actual value.
At this time the museum also acquired the collection of Napoleonic
medals, several hundred medals and coins commemorative of the em-
peror, which is said to be the most complete of its kind outside the
great French museums.
The first addition to the museum came about a year after its open-
ing, when several additional rooms in the rear of the main buildings
were opened as art galleries and for other exhibits.
For nearly twenty years the museum remained in its original quar-
ters, with the cry for space becoming more and more urgent. Valuable
and interesting exhibits were forced into storage for lack of room;
every gallery was filled to overflowing. George H. Barren, who served
as curator from 1910 to 1917, said of those years:
"Growth was slow at first. The Memorial Museum in its early
years had practically only one contributor, M. H. de Young. He gave
constantly, and built up in those years some of the museum's most valu-
able collection. He spent his time and his money freely, traveling over
Europe and employing his experience to gather, bit by bit, collections
of various kinds that if bought outright would have cost prohibitive
sums.
"Immediately following the fire of 1906, the museum began to grow
by leaps and bounds. Realization then came that an immense wealth
of material relating to the early history of California and San Francisco
had been destroyed by the fire, and that it was due to the people of Cali-
fornia to save what was left from ultimate destruction.
"Therefore, the Pioneer room was established and every effort bent
to the collection of Californiana from every possible source. Mrs.
Eleanor Martin presented the Oriana Day collection of paintings of the
California missions; the Vallejo heirs gave their treasured relics of the
days of Spanish-California; the Sutler heirs came forward with their
collection from Suiter's Fort. Hundreds of members and descendanls
of pioneer families senl conlribulions. Upon the installation of these,
the popularity of the museum became great and the daily allendance
rapidly increased.
"In 1912, wilh Ihe congeslion of every room and seclion, Ihe prob-
lem of space became a pressing one. Complainls came from many
donors lhal Iheir gifts were not exhibited. I made the condilion known,
believing lhat the public-spiriled cilizens of San Francisco would eslab-
STORY OF MIDWINTER EXPOSITION 17
lish a museum to relieve this congestion of collections. Response came
from Mr. de Young."
The result of these conditions was the announcement by Mr. de
Young on March 25, 1916, of a building project of magnificent scope.
Louis Mullgardt, architect of the Panama-Pacific Exposition, was com-
missioned to prepare plans for an addition to the museum, so extensive
and important that it overshadowed the original building and became,
instead of an addition, the principal portion of the group. That build-
ing is now the central one of the group of three.
In designing the new building Mullgardt established the scheme for
the ultimate plan of the museum. He chose an architectural style of
the Spanish Renaissance type, adapted from sixteenth century designs to
meet present-day demands. Instead of the small rooms of the old unit,
large galleries were planned. Skylight lighting was used throughout.
The corner stone of the new unit was laid April 15, 1917. In a
speech given at that time Mr. de Young said:
"I have now placed this stone' and box where they will remain for
years and years, until the destruction of this building by God or man,
and in doing so I dedicate this building to the people of San Francisco
as their property, to be managed by the Board of Park Commissioners
and under their control.
"There is only one museum in San Francisco that is yours. The
others are conducted by private individuals, but this museum belongs to
you, and is placed in the people's playground. It is in charge of your
officers and shall always remain there, and no man can disturb it. I
shall have no more credit after I am dead than you shall have. It be-
longs to you.
"I ask God to bless it and shower his kindness upon it, and I hope
that it will grow and develop until it attains a plane with other great
museums of the world."
Formal transfer of the new building and its valuable contents was
made to the Park Commissioners by Mr. de Young in February, 1919,
when the building ^as finally completed and the exhibits installed. The
deed of trust, dated February 22, 1919, contains the following para-
graphs:
By the Grace of God, in the name of humanity and education, this
Deed of Trust is made in the Year of our Lord, Nineteen Hundred
and Nineteen. WiTNESSETH:
"I, M. H. de Young of the city and county of San Francisco, State of
California, as a token of my deep love and affection for this city and its
people, do hereby give and grant, alien and confirm unto Curtis H.
Lindley, John A. McGregor, M. Earl Cummings, Sigmund Greenbaum
and A. B. Spreckels, members of and constituting the Board of Park
Commissioners of the city and county of San Francisco, State of Cali-
fornia, and to their successors In office forever, all of my right, title
and interest in and to that certain building known as the new Memorial
Museum, which I hare caused to be erected in Golden Gate Park in said
city and county, and to each and every and all of the contents in this
and other attached buildings, consisting of various and sundry oil paint-
ings, water colors, statuary* European and Oriental antiques and handi-
craft of all kinds, including various ceramics, armors and textile fab-
rics, also silver and gold exhibits, precious stones, coins and medals,
which I have caused to be placed and installed in said building.
18 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
"To have and to hold the same in trust, nevertheless for the uses
and purposes and with the powers hereinafter mentioned, namely:
"First, to keep and insure and maintain the said building and the
said contents therein as a museum for the free use, benefit and enjoy-
ment of the people forever:
"Second, if by any changes in the laws, the jurisdiction or control
of the said Curtis H. Lindley, John A. McGregor, M. Earl Cummings,
Sigmund Greenbaum and A. B. Spreckels, or their successors as mem-
bers of the said Board of Park Commissioners, over said Golden Gale
Park shall pass to any other board or body of persons, to execute any
instrument or do any act necessary or requisite to transfer said building
and said contents therein to said other board or body of persons, in
trust, for like uses and purposes and with like powers:
"Third, the principal condition being that all my gifts are to be for
all time maintained in this and connecting buildings in Golden Gate
Park. That they are not to be removed or loaned. The building is to be
opened every day in the year. There shall be no charge for admission."
Any deviation from the conditions of this Deed of Trust shall act as
a forfeiture, and all the property so given shall revert to me or my
heirs and assigns.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal
this twenty-second day of February, A. D., 1919.
M. H. DE YOUNG [Seal]
Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of
PERCY E. TOWNE [Seali]
Under these extremely generous conditions the Memorial Museum
prepared to advance to even greater possibilities of usefulness and in-
terest. Almost the first step was the discovery that still more room was
needed.
The Museum Buildings
The Original Midwinter Exposition Gallery — the New
Structures Provided by M. H. de Young — Spanish Renais-
sance the Style of Architecture — a Sylvan Setting — a
Magnificent Main Portal — Doors of the Museum Rarely
Closed — Efficient Staff in Charge.
Mr. de Young promptly met this condition with the announcement
of another building project. The first new unit was scarcely completed
when plans for the next were under way. Again Louis Mullgardt was
called in as architect, and designed the magnificent new unit opened in
the fall of 1920, the unit which, with its great central tower and corre-
sponding in architecture to the 1917 unit, is to form the main building
of the group and the entrance to the museum.
Planned in units and with the wide spaces of Golden Gate Park as
a setting, the Memorial Museum has almost indefinite possibilities of
growth. No city streets hedge it about and restrict its development.
Its future extent and importance are conditioned only by the means at
the disposal of the governing board and the support given by the public.
The museum group as it stands at present contains forty-five main
exhibit galleries, ranging in size from the tiny jewel-like Napoleon- room
to the spacious Statuary Hall and the corresponding armor room, each
140 by 48 feet. In the 1920 unit, through which entrance is gained to the
building, are five art galleries, the armor hall with its splendid collec-
tion of war relics, two rooms devoted to textiles, and the mineral, coin,
jewel and musical instrument collections.
The 1917 unit, or the central building, has for its central gallery
Statuary Hall, with an excellent collection of marbles and bronzes. In
addition there are four large art galleries, a room devoted to plaster
casts, the Oriental room and two galleries of ceramics.
The remaining collections, including the Napoleon relics, furniture,
historical exhibits, Mexican antique and native material, nautical ex-
hibits, Indian basketry, South Sea Island, American Indian and other
native material, Egyptian and Pompeian collections, antique Greek
statuary, ecclesiastical material, art metal, Colonial, and the unique and
valuable pioneer and mission collections, are housed in the original
building, with the Natural History Department at present occupying the
mezzanine floor.
Architectually the buildings present an interesting study. They
stand in their own carefully landscaped gardens, to which John Mc-
Laren, superintendent of Golden Gate Park, has devoted much thought
The original building is strongly Egyptian in style, with two pyramidal
towers, heavily buttressed walls, and lavish carvings and modeling in
Egyptian characteristics. The capitals of the columns are in lotus leaf
design, and the friezes that decorate the building are carved with
hieroglyphics and figures copied from Egyptian paintings.
The principal buildings are in Spanish Renaissance design, espe-
cially well adapted to their California setting. The brightness of the
20 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
California sun upon them is tempered by their coloring, a subdued
salmon tint, with decorative material in ivory tones. Richly molded
portals in heavy outline adorn the south face of the buildings, connected
by bands of ornament along the top of the walls. The cornice decora-
tion is rich and effective, and the pillars at the entrance doors are
heavily molded.
The first new unit is 510 feet long and 140 feet deep. The second
new unit is of corresponding size, and the two units are connected by
spacious corridors, large enough to be used as art galleries, with the
great central tower, 134 feet high, rising over the entrance, which is on
the corridor between the main buildings. Each wing of the first new
unit has a floor space of 23,800 square feet, divided into rectangular
galleries. Over each gallery is a skylight, and the central halls are
lighted by continuous skylights, extending over their entire space of
140 by 48 feet. H. J. Brunnier, consulting engineer, "devised the ingeni-
ous scheme by which the arches that support the central halls are built
without visible tierods or supports, leaving the great sweep of the hall
clear from end to end.
The K. E. Parker Company very successfully fulfilled the important
post of contractors for the construction of the buildings.
A notable feature of the two Spanish Renaissance units is the sculp-
ture which adorns the buildings. Haig Patigian, San Francisco sculptor,
designed the splendid group of figures placed over the entrance arch-
way, with Leo Lentelli contributing to the further adornment of the
buildings.
The sculptured groups over the main entrance door are worthy of
study. Crowning the arch stands Superior Intelligence, typified by a
figure of great dignity and beauty. Below, on either side of the arch,
are four winged figures of symbolical nature, Music and Painting on the
left and Architecture and Sculpture on the right. Within this arc of
symbols is the tympanum, another group of symbolic figures centering
about Science and Industry.
In the tympanum group, Knowledge is typified by the seated figure
in the center, holding the book of wisdom in the right hand and a skull
in the left. On the left of Knowledge sits Science, represented by an
old man holding a scroll and contemplating a lighted brazier. On the
right is Industry, a young man leaning on a hammer that rests on an
anvil, his outstretched right hand holding a cogwheel. In the back-
ground of this group are two standing figures, Education on the right,
holding a torch, and on the left, History, holding a scroll.
Placed on the pedestals below the tympanum are four supporting
figures, a man and woman in costumes of pioneer days flanked by
Spanish padres. Below each of the latter figures, and forming the
basic groups of the design, stand the figures of two men, the Discoverer
and an Indian.
The entire composition tells the story of the progress of California,
beginning with the aborigine and the explorer, through the days of the
missions, the pioneers, and finally the development of the arts and in-
dustries, to the crowning figure of Superior Intelligence.
Between the figures of the pioneers and the padres are three tablets
with the following inscriptions:
"Honor of State depends upon every individual."
"National honor depends upon honor of State."
"World happiness depends upon honor of Nations."
THE MUSEUM BUILDINGS 21
Approach to the main entrance is through a landscaped parkway
and past the Pool of Enchantment, a charming little pool set in feathery
shrubs and flowers, on the brink of which stands the spirited figure in
bronze of an Indian boy. Two bronze panthers crouch on the opposite
side of the pool. M. Earl Cummings, sculptor and Park Commissioner,
designed the pool and executed the bronzes.
Directly opposite the main entrance door are the museum offices
and library. Two excellent moose heads and two buffalo heads adorn
the walls of the entrance corridor.
The lighting of the new buildings is managed altogether by sky-
lights. There are no windows in the buildings, with the exception of
those in the offices. Glass-topped cases to hold such displays as the
ceramics exhibit further assist in showing every article to the best
advantage.
An unusually complete system of labeling exhibits is followed in
the Memorial Museum. Each article has its individual label on a printed
card, giving the name of the exhibit, its date if it is an antique, its
location as to country, the name of the donor, and frequently a bit of
interesting history.
Six curators have served the Memorial Museum since its opening.
C. P. Wilcomb, appointed at the beginning, held the position until 1905,
when he resigned and was succeeded by John W. Rogers. Rogers re-
signed in June, 1908, and was followed by Albert E. Gray. The next
curator, George Barron, assumed his duties in March, 1910, and served
until the spring of 1917. William Altman, his successor, died in No-
vember, 1917, after only a few months in office, and Charles E. Penez,
the present curator, was appointed.
The excellent start given the Natural History Department is largely
due to the foundation laid by Ferdinand Gruber, who came to the mu-
seum from Woodward's Gardens, a famous old resort and museum of
pioneer days. Gruber died in 1907. The present head of the Natural
History Department is Robert Belmont.
The Memorial Museum has been most fortunate in the infrequency
with which its doors have had to be closed to the public. Only three
times in its history has it been closed for more than a day; once in the
summer of 1896 for a few weeks while exhibits were being transferred
to new rooms and installed there; once from April, 1906, to November,
1907, after the disastrous fire and earthquake of 1906, which did consid-
erable damage to exhibits, and once in the fall of 1918, when the influ-
enza epidemic made necessary the closing of all places of public resort.
The tremendous task of installing the exhibits in the 1920 unit and re-
arranging the old rooms has been carried out without closing the
museum for a single day, under the executive management of Charles
E. Penez, the Curator, and his efficient staff of employes. Except for
the wooden barrier shutting off the new unit and the dismantled con-
dition of a few of the old rooms from which exhibits have been moved,
no indication has been given the public of the great task being ac-
complished.
Practically all the installations now in place owe their arrange-
ment to Curator Penez, who came to the Museum before the work on
the 1917 unit was completed. Under his capable direction the nine
galleries of the central unit and the eleven galleries of the newest
unit have been entirely installed, and the contents of practically a,y
the galleries of the old building rearranged.
In the work the curator has had the assistance of the regular
staff of the Museum. Members of this staff at present are Mrs. Solly
22 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Walter, Miss Elizabeth Holmes, Miss Nellie Lyons, Miss Genevieve
Kerwin, Mrs. Fred Hooke, Mrs. O. Severance, Mrs. Ann Hoffman, Mrs.
Jennie Peterson, Mrs. Alice Lee, Mrs. Dorothy Smith, Mrs. Frank
Morrison, Charles Clanton, Robert Belmont and Edward Dennis.
The museum has also been fortunate in suffering only moderate
loss from earthquakes and other disasters, and practically none from
theft. In April, 1898, an earthquake shock broke a few vases and pieces
of glassware, but nothing of special value was injured. The great
earthquake of 1906 had more serious results, but the greater part of the
statuary, porcelain and other damaged material was repaired with the
utmost care and skill, and probably not one out of a thousand persons
who inspect certain exhibits today realize that the morning of April 18,
1906, found these exhibits in shattered fragments. A porcelain vase or
bowl here and there shows the branching cracks and lines where it has
been repaired, but the majority of the restored pieces were so well
handled that it takes a close inspection to prove it.
Only once was an object of very great value stolen from the mu-
seum. This was in March, 1910, when a painting, "The Shepherd and
His Flock," by Millet — a small canvas 17% by 21% inches and valued at
$15,000 — was cut from its frame. A young art student was later ar-
rested and charged with the theft. He declared that he had taken the
picture because of an irresistible desire to have it constantly before
him as an artistic inspiration. Believing his story, certain San Fran-
cisco philanthropists interceded for him, obtained his release on proba-
tion, and he was given a place as janitor in a studio, where he might
study art during his spare time.
The Millet was excellently restored to its original frame. It is,
however, no longer in the museum, since it was one of the original
Sarah Spooner collection, a gift made to the museum by bequest of Miss
Sarah Spooner, a wealthy collector, and contested by relatives, who
attacked the will under the law prohibiting the bequest of more than a
certain percentage of estates to public institutions. Mrs. Emily Potter,
the "sister who instituted the contest, later agreed to a division of the
pictures which formed the most valuable part of the collection, and,
when the division was made, further agreed to leave her share of the
paintings in the museum for an indefinite time, withdrawing only the
Millet and a painting by the elder Dupre.
In addition to single objects, the museum contains a large number
of valuable collections, representing the work of years on the part of
their makers. Such collections as the Nuttall laces and embroideries;
the Ney Wolfskin netsukes (Japanese carvings) ; the Bardwell Oriental
material; the Morton Mitchell collection of miscellaneous objects: the
Sarah Spooner collection, including pictures and many miscellaneous
articles ; the Ernest Forbes Mexican material ; the Martin Indian collec-
tion; the Thomas Bishop collection of Indian stone implements which
the Smithsonian Institution tried vainly to obtain ; the Boggs, Daggett and
Cook basket collections; the Newton Booth jewels; the Kunz gems; the
Biddle Oriental material, and many others, are world-famous. Besides
these, the enormous number of gifts made by Mr. de Young includes
hundreds of collections, such as the Claxton tea caddies and bowls,
bought outright and presented as a whole.
In fulfillment of a trust created by Mary A. Burke to perpetuate
the memory of her husband, Frank H. Burke, and his father, Martin J.
Burke, liberal contributions were given to the founder, M. H. de Young,
toward the erection of the tower.
The largest and most famous piece of modern bronze casting. Gustave Bore's two
years' work entitled, "The Vintage." Valued today at $250,000.
Statuary Hall.
A Popular Institution
It Houses More Than a Million Objects in Forty-five Gal-
leries— the Growth of the Museum — the Wisdom of Plac-
ing It in the Park — It Has Become the Holiday Resort of
the People of San Francisco — a Greater Attendance Rec-
ord Than Any Other Museum in the Country.
In number of exhibits the Memorial Museum shows a steady and
constant growth. Beginning with about 6000 articles on display in
1895, the collection leaped to 40,000 by the end of 1896, 50,000 by 1900,
57,000 by 1903, and so on, until now the buildings house more than one
million articles, valued at many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many
of the exhibits are practically unpurchasable at any price, and there
are numerous single exhibits, statuary, tapestries, pictures, antiques
and so on with individual values ranging from $20,000 up.
One of the most distinctive features of the Memorial Museum is the
splendid attendance record. The skeptics of 1893 who told Mr. de
Young that a museum could not possibly be established on the Pacific
Coast would doubtless have declined to believe predictions that the
Memorial Museum would, from its very beginning, compete with older
and larger institutions in the matter of attendance, attract more visitois
yearly than the famous Smithsonian Institution in Washington or the
Field Columbian Museum of Chicago, and actually equal the New York
Metropolitan Museum in yearly records. The wisdom of Mr. de Young's
insistence that the museum be placed in the park, the holiday resort of
the crowds, is shown in the attendance figures. Every Sunday and
every holiday sees a tremendous jump in attendance. A Sunday record
of 6000 persons viewing the exhibits is not at all out of the ordinary,
and several times the holiday attendance has gone over the 20,000 mark.
Attendance figures were taken in the earlier years of the museum
by recording turnstiles placed at the entrance. These were later re-
moved, and the attendance is now checked by a member of the museum
staff with an automatic register. The official records of the museum
show the following figures:
Opening day, March 24, 1895 11,184
Year ending March 23, 1896 500,823
March 24 to December 31 272.352
(Museum closed for alterations, September 13 to November 21.)
Year of 1897 471,777
Year of 1898 371,192
Year of 1899 372,074
Year of 1900 272,992
(Recording turnstiles removed from August 1 to November 2.)
Year of 1901 502,650
Year of 1902 452,391
Year of 1903.. . :445,832
24 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Y«ar of 1904 424,510
Year of 1905 413,410
January 1 to April 18, 1906 117,854
(Museum closed until November 10, 1907; earthquake damage.)
November 10 to December 31, 1907 66,802
Year of 1908 498,013
Year of 1909 375,474
Year of 1910 579,049
Year of 1911 579,321
Year of 1912 571,907
Year of 1913 580,721
Year of 1914 582,328
Year of 1915 722,621
(Panama-Pacific Exposition held during 1915.,
Year of 1916 500,372
Year of 1917 502,650
January 1 to October 18, 1918 374,491
(Museum closed, October 18, November 29, influenza epidemic.)
Year of 1919 728,246
January 1 to October 30, 1920 577,851
Mr. de Young has voiced his ambition for the Memorial Museum in
these words:
"I have been thinking how much the growth of the museum is like
that of a child. The father and mother watch it with love. The baby
begins to creep, and there is joy in the household. The baby begins to
walk;, and its achievement is a matter of pride. He begins to talk, and
his parents are happy. He grows to boyhood and then to manhood,
always surrounded by the love of his father and mother.
"I like to gaze away ahead, and when I stood out there, looking at
the new building one day, I said to myself: 'When this tower is built
and the people of the city see the building and the splendid contents,
given so generously by the many people who have shown their interest
in tangible form, they will appreciate that the best monument one can
have is a gift to the new museum/
"The museum belongs to the people; it is in the people's park, and
the officials of the city have charge of it It is going to exist forever.
"Future generations are going to see that it is taken care of and
treasured as an asset which makes this city not a village, but a
metropolis. A city must show development and have attractions besides
street cars and buildings. No one will deny that the museum has
attractions for all, for the boy and girl growing up and the men and
women who want amusement and rest and enjoyment.
"I can see it overflowing. I can see the building growing up,
enlargements and additions going back to the main driveway. When
we are all gone, that museum will cover acres and acres of ground,
and our children and our children's children will live to enjoy it."
Galleries Devoted to Pictures
A Large and Representative Collection of Oil Paintings,
Water Colors, Etchings, Engravings, Pastels and Other
Types — Seven Large Galleries Allotted to Their Display
— California Artists Largely Represented — The Samson
and Delilah — French Modern School.
For an institution of comparatively few years, the Memorial Mu-
seum has acquired a surprisingly' large and representative collection
of paintings, both oil and water color, as well as a large exhibit of
etchings, engravings color prints, a few pastels and other types of
pictures. Seven large galleries are devoted to the display of pictures,
and some fifty canvases are hung in the spacious corridors that form
the entrance to the new building.
Examples of the work of recognized masters are numerous. In
addition to a beautiful "Saint at Prayer," credited to Leonardo da
Vinci, and certainly worthy of bearing his signature, the galleries
contain a splendid D'Aubigny landscape; Julian Dupre's beautiful
"Milking Time"; a Benjamin West portrait; a copy of the Rembrandt
Peale Washington portrait, done by Peale himself in later years; six
of H. J. Breuer's paintings of the Canadian Rockies; two Blakelocks;
Paul Emile Jacobs' splendid "Samson and Delilah"; four William
Keith's; L. Beroud's "Rubens Rooms at the Louvre"; examples of the
old Dutch and Italian schools and an excellent array of Russian and
modern French paintings.
California artists are largely represented. In addition to the
Keiths, the examples of California art include Jules Pages' "Sur le
Zinc," Joseph Raphael's strongly handled "Town Crier," several char-
acteristic Charles Rollo Peters dark-toned landscapes and many other
smaller but not less interesting canvases. The majority of the Cali-
fornia pictures are gathered in the Skae gallery, where is housed
a collection purchased with the $10,000 legacy left to the museum by
Alice Skae. Twenty-nine canvases and eight etchings by California
artists were added to the museum as a result of this gift.
M. H. de Young is the donor of the greater part of the art col-
lection, his gifts supplemented by many individual contributions. The
Spooner collection, representing the legacy of Miss Sarah Spooner,
and the Kahn collection, given by George H. Kahn in memory of his
wife, Annie Kahn, are the largest groups donated by single givers.
C. P. Huntington also gave a number of paintings.
Among the collections bought by Mr. de Young and presented as
a whole was the representation of Continental modernists, largely
Russian, French, Italian and German, purchased from the collection
owned by Frank C. Havens of Piedmont. When these pictures came
into the market in 1917 Mr. de Young selected the best canvases to
be added to the museum treasures.
Havens, who was ill at the time of the sale, said when he was
told that the gems of his collection had gone to Mr. de Young: "I won't
26 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
pretend that I was glad to part with the collection, but since they
had to go, I am glad they went to Mr. de Young. He is not like the
ordinary buyer. He does not want to keep them tied up where nobody
but his personal friends and himself can see them. He is giving them,
to the public, where I myself would like to see them go."
The best of these Havens pictures are found in the large gallery
opening off Statuary Hall, where the Tofanari animal bronzes are also
placed. Htre are the Dupre "Milking Time," Carlton Chapman's
"Friendly Meeting," Henry P. Smith's "In Andalusia," "Lady With
Flowers," by Jan Van Os, a Dutch painter of the eighteenth century;
W. E. D. Stuart's "Trafalgar," a P. T. Heller canvas, "Woodland Re-
treat," by T. Faulkner; "The Roman Campagna," by Jules Didier;
"Bridal Procession," N. P. Pirogoff; "Golden Autumn," G. M. Shluglei;
"Fall of the City of Vladimir," Kosheleff; "Premiers Soirs d'Automne,"
Jules Lanet; ''Napoleon's Last Day in Moscow," J. K. Feodoroff ; "Morn-
ing After the Battle," N. F. Bounin, and "Bacchus and Ariadne," Titian-
Vecellio.
Julian Dupre, the painter of "Milking Time," holds many honors
for his work, including Paris Salon medals, exposition medals and the
Legion of Honor.
The picture portrays a quiet pastoral scene with two milkmaids
in peasant garb milking their cows, probably just at the approach of
dusk, for the air is luminous with coming darkness and dew. On the
horizon are dark groups of trees, indefinitely indicated, but silhouetted
sharply against the sky of billowy pearl gray clouds and deepening
blue. Directly in the foreground stands a placid Holstein cow in the
sober black and white of her family, submitting to the hands of the
milkmaid who sits with her back to the spectator. To the left another
milkmaid walks slowly forward, carrying brimming pails on the yoke
that rests on her shoulders. Behind her is a group of cows.
The color scheme of the picture is wonderfully restful and calm.
There are no high colors, even for the" luxury of contrast. Grass and
trees are deep, rich green, toning into the shadows. The girls are
dressed in dull blue and gray; even the touches of white about their
costumes are dim and softened. The milk pails shine with a dull
luster. Nevertheless, the picture is not somber nor depressing, but
quietly peaceful and dreamy. The atmosphere suggests the dew-laden
air of early evening.
"Friendly Meeting," by Carlton T. Chapman, is a colorful study
of two old three-deckers, with the picturesque rig of long ago, meeting
at sea. Boats are putting off for an exchange of visits between ships.
The picture is suffused with a rich sunset light, glowing in the sky
and touching the water to flame, while the brilliancy of flags brings
the ships into harmony with their setting.
Another naval piece is W. E. D. Stuart's "Trafalgar." This is a
spirited battle scene, depicting a struggling mass of ships that crowd
the canvas. In the center, a battered hulk lurches for the final plunge,
and everywhere ships are grappling in the frenzy of the battle. Clouds
of smoke sweep across the scene, so that the ships in the background
are only dimly seen through the swirling drifts. Broken spars, torn
canvas and all the tumult of the sea fight in the days when sea fights
were fought with grappling irons out and boarding parties busy, sweep
over the whole composition in a whirling fury.
Very different is Henry P. Smith's "In Andalusia." One wanders
down a sunny road in Spain, under the shadow of olive trees, past a
picturesque Spanish home with its white walls and graceful balconies.
GALLERIES DEVOTED TO PICTURES 27
In the distance are tawny hills, luminous with the heat of midsummer,
a heat that hovers over the whole scene.
A delightfully humorous little picture by P. T. Heller is "Return
from the Tsar's Coronation of Local Leader of the Russian Peasantry.'
It is a typical Russian peasant home interior with the rude furniture
and dark walls. Seated at the table is the hero of the day, a bearded
moujik, who proudly displays a huge portrait of the new Tsar. Crowd-
ing about him are the wide-eyed villagers, eager to hear of his wonder-
ful experience.
One example of eighteenth century work finds place in this room,
"Lady With Flowers," by Jan van Os (1744-1808). It is a typical old
Dutch school picture, heavy in line and modeling and its colors
darkened by time.
A very lovely picture is "Woodland Retreat," by T. Faulkner.
It shows a forest pool of dark, quiet water, deep in the heart of peace-
ful woods. On either side of the pool rises a steep bank covered with
trees and ferns, and beyond are glimpses of blue sky. The reflections
of the overhanging trees seem to quiver in the water and the shimmer
of the water's surface is seemingly laid over the beauty of the reflected
trees. The water, with its dusky green depths and its pale surface
glimmer, is superbly handled.
Jules Didier is represented by "The Roman Campagna," a land-
scape study showing a dark pool and trees in the foreground and a
glimpse of sunny open country beyond, while two women in the cos-
tumes of Italian peasants advance under the trees.
A picture of great and curious power is "The Bridal Procession,"
by N. P. Pirogoff. The large canvas shows a street in a poor Russian
village in the dead of winter. Snow covers the ground and the houses
that huddle together. Down the street from the church, the gilded
dome of which shows in the distance, comes the bridal procession,
a pitifully poor affair of one hooded cart drawn by scarecrow horses
and a few men who ride and walk beside. Underfoot the snow is
melting into slush and mud, and the horses struggle to pull their
burden along. All the color of the picture centers in the decorated
hood of the cart, a scarlet almost cruelly vivid, and this splash of
color is accentuated by the intense point of light that gleams from a
taper carried by a man who walks at the right of the cart. The con-
trast of the blaze of scarlet and the poverty of the procession with its
thin horses and its meager numbers is bitterly satiric, while the lofty,
scornful gleam of the gilded church dome in the distance gives the
final touch. The ugliness of the surroundings is uncompromising;
even the handful of villagers who watch the procession incuriously
show the touch of poverty. It is doubtful if any one but a Russian
could have so completely realized the spirit of the theme.
Another massive painting of the Russian school is Kosheleff's
"Fall of the City of Vladimir." This is historical in its theme: the
artist served for years as professor of historical painting at the Imperial
Academy of Arts in Petrograd. The picture was sent by the Russian
Government to St. Louis in 1904 to be displayed at the exposition,
hors concours, or not in competition. It was bought by Frank Havens,
and in 1917, with other pictures, passed into the hands of Mr. de Young.
The picture shows the last scene in the Cathedral of the Holy
Virgin when the Mongol hordes from the East sacked the city of
Vladimir, Russia, in 1239. In that century the Great Khan and his
Tartar armies were sweeping Europe, and in 1239 they came to the
gate of the city of Vladimir.
28 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
In spite of the resistance of the Russians, the Tartars took the
city by assault When the end was in sight the Grand Duke Vladimir,
Princess Agatha and other members of the court, priests and nobility,
shut themselves up in the cathedral, preferring to die in the holy
place rather than surrender.
On February 8, 1239, the city's last defenders gave way and were
massacred. Bishop Mitrophan, with his coadjutors and priests around
him, gave the last sacrament to the huddled fugitives in the cathedral
while the Tartars thundered at the gates. As the gates crashed in
Mitrophan cried: "Lord, stretch out thy hand and receive thy children
in peace."
It is this moment that Kosheleff chose to depict in his great
painting.
The picture is a splendid example of composition. At first glance
the eye is attracted to the vivid figure of Mitrophan, standing before
the altar in full brilliancy of regalia and in a blaze of tapers. From
this high light of the canvas the eye is led through the cunningly
blended lines of kneeling women, upraised arms, streaming hair and
flowing robes, to the pivot figure at the lowet right hand corner of
the picture — a woman in a somber black robe with a strong resigned
face. From this turning point the lines of uptossed arms and figures
lead up to the gates where the first of the Tartar hordes, a terrible
figure with gleaming eyes and knife gripped in his teeth, bursts
through. So effectively is this climax led up to that it is no uncommon
thing to hear visitors, viewing the picture for the first time, discuss
figure after figure, following the line from Mitrophan through the
picture until the demoniac Tartar bursts upon them with an actual
shock.
The third great canvas of the Russian school is the somewhat
better known "Napoleon's Last Day," by J. K. Feodoroff. This picture
was also in the Russian art section of the St. Louis Exposition and
was purchased by Havens and later by Mr. de Young.
The historical background of the picture has to do with Napoleon's
disastrous Russian campaign of 1812. The Corsican conqueror made
his solemn entry into Moscow on the morning of September 2, 1812,
and took up his residence in the Tzar's palace within the Kremlin.
Many shops were already on fire and the flames were rapidly spread-
ing. Great bazars were swept by fire within the hours immediately
following Napoleon's arrival and several times the blaze turned in the
direction of the Kremlin. When the alarm was again and again raised
that this great mass of buildings had caught fire Napoleon's officers
besought him to leave Moscow. He refused until an outburst of flames
in the Kremlin at last compelled him to think of his own safety.
He left for the Petrofsky palace in the suburbs and hardly had his
forces left the Kremlin when it became a sea of flame.
The picture has caught a moment when Napoleon's officers and
advisers are just leaving their commander after another urgent plea
to seek safety. In the huge vaulted room Napoleon sits at a table
before a deep arched window. The intensity of the scene that has
just passed is hinted not only in the somber look of the Emperor and
the droop of his pose, but in torn and twisted papers that strew the
floor. The officers are leaving through a door at the back of the room,
heads bent in sadness.
Two paintings that picture the varying moods of autumn are
"Premiers Soirs d'Automne," by Jules Lanet, and "Golden Autumn,"
by G. M. Shlugleit. The Lanet picture shows a quiet river bend with
a tree-lined path along the bank leading to the distantly glimpsed
GALLERIES DEVOTED TO PICTURES 29
meadow. On the gray-green surface of the water float a few yellow
leaves, the heralds of autumn. "Golden Autumn" also shows the bend
of a river, hedged with yellow-leaved trees, laid in with broad brush-
strokes.
N. P. Bounin's great painting, "Morning After the Battle," is hung
in this gallery. The scene of this picture is a battlefield strewn with
the bodies of men and horses and the wreckage of war. In the fore-
ground lies the body of a soldier, and near it stands a horse, mane
and tail blown by the wind, head thrust forward in mute appeal for
help. In this horse, left behind by the tide of battle, frightened by
the loneliness and strange happenings, but faithful to his dead master,
the artist has centered the power of his picture.
A canvas of the early Renaissance period is "Bacchus and Ariadne,"
one of the numerous pictures in which Titian and his nephew, Vecellio,
collaborated. Titian painted the original to hang in the palace of
Duke Alphonso d'Este. There it remained from 1523 until a com-
paratively recent time, when it was purchased and placed in the Na-
tional Gallery in London. A few years after the original was com-
pleted, Titian, assisted by his nephew, made the copy which hangs
in the Memorial Museum. Many of Titian's best-known paintings were
reproduced in this interesting fashion, the master advising and guiding
the hand of the lesser artist.
Between the large gallery in which hang the principal Russian
paintings and the plaster gallery is a gallery devoted to a miscellaneous
collection of pictures, including others of the Havens collection pur-
chased and donated by M. H. de Young. Among the best of this group
are "The Philosopher," by De Jans; "How Beautiful Is Life," a figure
study by M. Suchorowski, notable for the texture of the fabrics; "Five
O'Clock Tea," by Gordon Coutts; "Street Scene in Algiers," by W. P.
Keller; "Vagabond," a small canvas by W. E. Marsowsky; "Sunset,"
by G. H. McCord; "Holland Mother," by G. L. Sythoff, and "Belgian
Women on the Quay Vert," by Jules Benoit Levy.
The De Jans canvas is the study of an old man, clad in a robe
of dark richness, reading in the corner of a library. His head, with
its heavy gray hair and full beard, is silhouetted against a back-
ground of mellow old books in time-enriched tones. The colors are
deep and strong, somewhat inclined to somber shades, and the entire
composition is dignified and firm.
"How Beautiful Is Life" shows a young woman in a robe of white
silk seated in front of a tapestried wall. Both hands are clasped
behind her head, and her pose is one of languorous ease. Her slow
smile and the almost feline comfort of her lazy pose indicate that the
beauty of life for her evidently deals principally with contentment and
ease. The texture of her white gown and the contrasting darkness of
the tapestry are well handled.
"Five o'Clock Tea," the Gordon Coutts picture, is a large canvas
showing a scene of homely friendliness. A little girl is carefully help-
ing a white-haired and fragile old woman from her easy chair by
the window to the table in the foreground, where tea is spread — evi-
dently by the hands of the little girl herself. The lighting of the pic-
ture is particularly charming in the soft afternoon radiance that
streams through the window into the shadowed dusk of the room.
"Street Scene in Algiers" is a brisk little picture, showing one of
the characteristic Algerian bazaars, crowded with figures and spirited
with life and color in the brilliant unshaded tones of the .East.
"Vagabond," one of the smallest canvases in the room, is one of
the most interesting for the fine recklessness of the pose of the single
30 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
figure it shows. Beside the water's edge — indicated without too much
detail — stands the vagabond, a man in ragged garments with his red
blouse tattered and torn from his shoulders. The right arm is swung
out and the body follows its swing with an evident indication that the
vagabond is cheerfully uncertain of his footing. The artist has caught
the pose that splendidly characterizes a reckless abandon.
"Sunset," by G. H. McCord, is a study of Italian fishing boats with
the light of sunset on their brilliantly colored sails. The luminosity
of the atmosphere and the vividness of the light are the strong features.
"Holland Mother" is in strong contrast, with its soft greens and
browns of the Dutch interior, where the mother and children form a
quiet family group. Peaceful harmony of tone is the prevailing note.
"Belgian Women on the Quay Vert" is a notable example of the
use of broad masses of color. It pictures three old women, clad in
long black cloaks and hoods, gossiping on the quay with a background
of old houses. The colors are handled in sweeping masses and simple
design, with the red roofs of the houses and touches of red in the
quay stones relieving the somber tones of the cloaks and the quay
walls.
"Venetian Water Fete," by Antonio Rotta, is a decorative com-
position, picturing two gondolas filled with brilliantly costumed mer-
rymakers. It is characterized by a hard brilliancy of drawing and
color and an almost complete absence of background except for a
mere indication of the waters of a canal.
"Return of the Gleaners," by Georges Langee, is a Breton scene,
showing women carrying sheaves, returning through a half-reaped,
field. The coloring is soft and delicate.
"Russian Peasant," by A. Asti, is a good head study, portraying
a heavily bearded peasant type.
A graceful little animal group is Brunet-Neuville's "Cats," a play-
ful study of kittens.
Other pictures in this gallery include "Stag Pursued by Hunting
Dogs," by Adolphe Thomasse; "Landscape," W. A. Coffin; "Evening
Rays," I. I. Zemboulat-Popoff; "Little Scissors Grinder," Emile Adan;
"Diana and Actaeon," M. Jury; "Grecian Maiden," G. Seignac; "Chan-
ticleer," F. Andikeller; "Piquant," G. Belli; "Girl and Hollyhocks,"
Amedee Brouillet; "Winter," Arthur Hoeber; "Old Cliff House," J.
A. Partington; "Logging in California" and "Indians in Snow," William
Hahn; "Flowers," G. Jeannoir; "Chrysanthemum Girl," M. Sandona;
"Music," A. Zampigli; "Goats," Van Sluys, and "The Girl and the
Sheep," Julius Schrader.
The famous "Samson and Delilah," by Paul Emile Jacobs, is the
principal feature of another art gallery in the 1917 unit of the museum.
This large canvas, hung directly opposite a doorway where an ex-
cellent view is obtainable, presents Samson at the moment of hit
capture by the soldiers, Delilah, her task accomplished, watching in
triumph. It is a magnificent composition, done in powerful lines and
masses, the harsh angularity of the group of Samson and the soldiers
contrasting sharply with the rounded softness of Delilah, who shrinks
into a corner of the couch out of the way of the struggling men.
Samson, held in the grip of the soldiers, flings his whole strength
into a desperate effort for freedom; the furious strain of the muscles
and the wrench of his body are easily grasped. In coloring, the picture
follows the Italian school, particularly in the dusky flesh tones.
•Samson and Delilah" went through many vicissitudes before it
was hung on the museum walls. It was painted in 1845 and brought
to San Francisco in the 50s by J. C. Duncan. Shortly after that time
GALLERIES DEVOTED TO PICTURES 31
it was sold at auction with other pictures, and brought $30,000. The
picture was hung in the Bank Exchange, a famous old hotel where
gold dust was weighed out over the bar in lieu of coin. Hard times
finally came upon the Bank Exchange and the picture was sold for
$20,000 and placed in Hacquette's, another famous resort of the early
days. In 1906 the picture was saved from the fire and not long after-
ward was bought by Mr. de Young to be placed in the museum.
This gallery contains several pictures of especial interest and
value, both modern paintings and of the older school. "Susanna" is
a typical seventeenth century Italian painting, dating to 1670. "Flow-
ers," by Constantin, is of the period of Napoleon III.
Among the larger canvases is "Temptation," by Upetnepr, a Russian
artist. It is an allegorical scene, portraying a woman in black garb
standing between groups of symbolical figures, one group of spiritual
types and the other of worldly figures, evidently inviting to a life of
pleasure.
"Ivan the Terrible and the Hermit" is by P. T. Heller, whose work
is represented in other galleries. It is a historical painting, repre-
senting the dread Ivan the Terrible, the ruthless Emperor of the,
Russians, whose cruelty manifested itself in many ways. According
to the story, the hermit foretold Ivan's murder of his own son, where-
upon the tyrant promptly threw the prophet into prison. There Ivan
visited him, and the undaunted hermit prophesied Ivan's own end. The
picture brings out a strong contrast between the splendor of the
imperial robes of Ivan and the rags of the hermit.
"Honeymoon in Venice," by L. de Joncieres, is a canvas slightly
on the poster order, showing a man and woman in costume that very
definitely fix the year of the painting, floating through the Venetian
canals in the inevitable gondola.
"The Confession," by Edmund Blume, is a dramatic conception por-
traying the deathbed of a man whose crimes are evidently so terrible
that the monk who listens to his confession shrinks back in horror.
The tortured face of the dying man and the fright in the monk's at-
titude are well rendered.
"Hesiod and the Muse" is a classical study by E. Foubert.
"Two Friends," by A. I. Alexyeff, is one of the most charming
canvases in the gallery. It pictures two girls in Italian costumes
standing on a balcony with a vista of city roofs behind them. Their
heads are close together over a letter. In grace of composition, airy
lightness of handling and delicacy of color, the picture is delightful.
E. C. von Liphart is represented by two panels portraying "The
Education of Cupid."
Jules Pages, a San Francisco artist, contributes one of his ex-
cellent figure studies in "An Italian Peasant." The peasant in his
ragged garb of everyday stands easily posed before an arbor covered
with vines, and the picture is suffused with the rich luminosity that
is characteristic of Pages' work. The subject of the painting was
discovered by the artist asleep in a field near the Villa Medici, Italy,
waiting for a farmer to need his services. Pages immediately saw
his possibilities as a model, made the sketch and told the man to
return the next day for more work. Unfortunately, when the peasant
appeared, his picturesque everyday costume was changed for a stiff
and unbeautiful "Sunday best," and, worst of all, he had undergone
a shave and haircut. Fortunately the sketch had been made before
the man's picturesqueness was completely destroyed.
"Boyarin Marazoff," by T. T. Bucholtz, is a Russian painting of
semi-historical nature. The Boyarin Marazoff, or Lady Marazoff, was
32 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Grand Duchess of Moscow, and the scene represents the presentation
of a nobleman coming to visit her court. The splendor of the court
robes and the luxurious surroundings make the picture a colorful
composition.
"Russian Horse Fair," by Josef Chelmonsky, is a spirited country
scene with horses driven at full gallop down a path lined with spec-
tators. The composition is unique in its horizontal lines and sharp
opening of perspective.
"Venus and Cupid," by Giovani Barfieri; a Gordon Coutts land-
scape, "Deep Water," an idyllic study by I. A. Djenyeef, and "Old
Heidelberg," by Lacroix, are also in this gallery.
One entire art gallery in the 1917 unit is devoted to a display of
paintings by French modernists, originally sent to the United States
for exposition display and purchased by Mr. de Young for the museum.
Most conspicuous in the gallery is "Passing Illusion," by Georges
Laverne. This large canvas is almost entirely in varying tones of
blue, creating an effect of lightness and unsubstantial loveliness de-
manded by the theme. An Arcadian shepherd leans against a tree,
idly gazing at the wraiths of fair women that pass in a dim cloud
before him. His look is detached and dreamy, as if the vision were a
mere momentary creation of his imaginings.
Several interesting pictures find room in this gallery, among them
Cyprien Boulet's splendid canvas, "The Heroes." This modern paint-
ing shows a glimpse of an ambulance hospital near Verdun in 1915,
close to the battle front, with the surgeons working feverishly over
the wounded men. It pictures the interior of a hut, lighted by the
flare of an oil lamp that hangs over the surgeon's table. On a stool
under the lamp sits a wounded man in the torn uniform of a poilu,
the surgeon working over a wound in his head. Other wounded men
are grouped in the background, while a priest kneels by a dying man.
Strongly realistic in theme and treatment, the picture is a very
powerful conception and a sincere tribute to the heroic poilus of France.
The wounded man who occupies the foreground is not the soldier o£
fiction, but is very evidently a man of the people, perhaps a little
shopkeeper or a small farmer, dignified by his uniform and his service.
Grim though the theme is, the gruesome side of the scene is not unduly
dwelt upon, but rather suggested by masterly touches.
A battle picture of very different type is Ferdinand Gueldry's "Battle
in Laces." This is a reminiscence of the days of Louis XV, when
cavaliers of the court battled for the entertainment of La Pompadour,
donning their most brilliant silks and satins for the occasion. The
scene pictured is at the close of the battle — a real battle to the death
and not a sham fight — when the survivors are riding over the bodies of
their comrades to salute La Pompadour, who, in all her luxurious
finery, stands on a grassy hillock to watch the affray. It is a brilliant
study of vivid colors and fine composition.
"Sancho Panza" by Abel Boye is one of the best canvases in the
room. The famous Sancho is shown in a half-length view, riding
comfortably on his donkey, and smiling with vast contentment directly
out of the picture. It is a splendid portrait study, full of the irresistible
humor of the real Sancho, and ixi line and color, easily and strongly
handled.
Ferdinand Levy-Alkan is represented by "The Family Reading
Lesson," a pleasantly conceived group of quiet interest.
Georges Roussel has two canvases, "Ballet Girl" and "American
Dancing Girl," characteristic studies in broad coloring.
"Dreaming in the Park" is a graceful pastel by Francois Thevenot.
GALLERIES DEVOTED TO PICTURES 33
Mme. E. Darbour contributes "Return From the First Ball," a
pretty conception of a charming young debutante in her white ball
gown, seated before her mirror and dreaming of the joys of her first
party.
"French Pilgrim," by Angelo Delasalle, is an interesting head study
of strong lines and color.
Other canvases in the gallery are "Rest of Country Peasant," a
pastoral sketch by Widoff; "French Wagon in the Forest," a quietly
restful woodland scene by Jaques Roger Simon; "After-Dinner Punch,"
a genre picture by Leonie Michaud; "Innocents' Paradise," a curious
and rather stiffly handled composition by Mile. Taupenot; "Boy Sail-
ors," Paul Jobert; "Runaway Cattle," Georges Caperas; "Little
Fisherman," Charles Riviere.
In one of the spacious art galleries of the 1920 unit are gathered
the most notable of the smaller canvases in the museum collection.
Here are the D'Aubigny, the "Saint at Prayer," credited to Da Vinci;
the two Blakelocks, the Peale portrait of Washington; two beautiful
little Veltens, a Benjamin West portrait, Jiminez Aranda's "Holy
Week at Seville" and a large number of excellent paintings by Amer-
ican and European artists of various periods.
The D'Aubigny landscape is quite typical of the work of this
youngest of the famous Barbizon group. It is suffused with his fa-
vorite dusky tones, with a glimpse of the moon between the trees
lighting the center of the picture and a dark pool in the shadows.
The restrained and powerful handling of the masses of shadow and
light are characteristic of D'Aubigny, who frequently atoned for the
lack of distinct outline and accurate drawing by atmospheric strength
and beauty of chiaroscuro.
The "Saint at Prayer" is a very lovely head study of a spiritually
beautiful woman in the robes and halo of a saint. The delicacy oH
the treatment, the grace of the pose and the rapt beauty of the ex-
pression are Da Vinci characteristics. The colors are dimmed, but
still retain a suggestion of their original brilliancy, and the delicate
handling is evident. The saint is posed under a gracefully modeled
arch, and a wreath of roses encircles her head. Her hands are clasped
in prayer and her eyes are raised.
Ralph Albert Blakelock, brought so conspicuously before the public
eye not long ago, when his friends finally obtained his release from
the asylum where for a long time he had been held as insane, his
mind weakened by his desperate struggle for artistic recognition, is
represented by two characteristic canvases. Both are landscapes in
dark, rich tones, done with determined and bold brushwork and a
strongly effective blending of the dusky shades. The smaller of the
two pictures shows a half-glimpsed clump of trees looming in indefinite
yet suggestive outline through the dusk of the fields. The larger
presents another night scene with the moon breaking through the
torn clouds and a tree silhouetted against its glow.
The Peale portrait of Washington was painted by the artist,
Rembrandt Peale, as a copy of the original done by him in 1795, four
years before the death of Washington. The original portrait must
have been one of Peale's earliest, for the artist was but 20 vears of
age when he painted it. A considerable time later he made the copy
now in the museum. It shows the head and shoulders of Washington,
and is particularly interesting in picturing him in the years after his
retirement from public life, when advancing years began to show
their traces. Washington was 63 years old when the portrait was
painted. Peale painted a number of portraits of Washington.
34 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
"Rendezvous de Chasse" and "The Chase," by W. Velten, are two
small oils, extremely delicate and daintily firm in their treatment.
In subject they are not unlike the old English hunting prints, but
the medium is handled with the delicacy of a miniature.
"Portrait of a Lady," by Benjamin West (1738-1820), is a char-
acteristic product of the period with the somewhat affected pose, the
tinge of artificiality, the First Empire costume and the consciously
smiling expression of the "lady." West, an American, is chiefly noted
for his historical paintings.
Jiminez Aranda, a Spanish artist of note, is represented by one
of the most interesting pictures of the collection, "Holy Week at
Seville." The scene is in the cathedral square. Standing in the stone
pulpit at the cathedral door, a friar addresses the crowd gathered
about him. Study of the picture is lavishly repaid by the wealth of
character interest in the throng and the minute care with which every
detail is carried out. Each face in the crowd is an individual study;
the earnest standard-bearer directly below the pulpit, the senorita who
casts a flirtatious glance at a handsome cavalier near by, the two
courtiers who are more interested in the pretty girls than in the
friar's words, the stolid peasants, old men and women, children and
many others. The necessary elaboration of detail in the matter of
costumes and accessories in such a crowded canvas is handled with
full development of individual effect and yet without undue emphasis
on minor points.
Many other pictures in this gallery are of unusual interest. "The
Widow," by A. Birelli, is an interesting portraiture of an Italian
peasant woman seated despondently on the stone step of the hearth.
The somber tones of brown and black, unrelieved by anything further
than the lighter flesh tones, gives the atmosphere for the expression
of hopeless grief and utter dejection in the figure and face of the
woman.
C. D. Robinson, well known for landscape work, and particularly
marines, has four canvases in this gallery, "Grand Canyon," "Cypress
Point, Monterey," "Lake Louise" and "Golden Gate."
"Chanting the Litany," by C. Sandrucci, is a masterly portrait
study of a genial monk in the full swing of the chant. One may easily
imagine the vigorous tones that are proceeding from the comfortably
rotund brother, whose utter absorption in the business at hand is
indicated by his look and by the expressive finger with which he is
keeping time.
"Holland Fish Market," by Gerard (1770-1836), is credited with
an interesting history. Gerard was a painter much in favor at the
court of Napoleon and painted the famous "Battle of Austerlitz" for
the Emperor. The picture in the museum is said to have been painted
at the order of Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, and sent to
the United States in 1817, after the downfall of the Bonapartes, with
other pictures owned by Joseph. In 1839 the collection was sold and
this picture placed in a Boston exhibit, arranged for the benefit of
charities. In 1863 it was sold to Samuel Brannan, who brought it to
San Francisco, and later passed into the ownership of Alexander
Badlam, whose daughter gave it to the museum.
The picture is a scene in a corner of a busy fish market, with
rather realistic fish offered for sale by picturesquely costumed Dutch
maidens.
A delightful genre picture is "Markgruf Peasant Woman," by E.
Schwabe. This quaint little old woman of the picture is seated at a
table enjoying a frugal tea. Teacup in hand, she leans forward to
GALLERIES DEVOTED TO PICTURES 35
smile from the canvas, every line of her wrinkled face and her black-
clad figure with its white cap expressing kindliness and good humor.
V. Cavalieri's "Whirlwind in a Nunnery" is an unusual conception,
effectively handled. The scene is in the quiet courtyard of a nunnery,
rudely disturbed by an unceremonious little whirlwind that is scat-
tering the fallen leaves and sending the white-robed novices scurry-
ing for shelter, their robes blown in flapping folds.
A spirited composition is F. Raubaud's "Scene in Russia," show-
ing a typical Russian troika, with its three horses abreast, coming at
full speed down a narrow road between the houses of a village. The
picture is full of animation and energy.
A number of small marines and fishing village scenes are included
in this collection. Notable among them is Emil Vernier's "Windy Day
on the North Sea," a small canvas filled with the suggestion of fresh
sea winds and dashing spray. "Breaking Waves," by N. Hagerup;
"North Sea Fisherman," by Laurtis Sorensen; "Gambling Boys on the
Beach at Naples," by Bernard Hay, and "Fiord in Norway," by Anker
Skaga, are all in this class.
"La Prise du Drapeau1' ("The Capture of the Flag") , by Desvarreux,
is a battle scene, showing a cuirassier breaking through the enemy
ranks to snatch the flag and gallop away with it. Another battle
picture of different type is "Last of the Battalion," by Jules Monges,
portraying a wounded Zouave who drags himself feebly to a wall to
write, with finger dipped in his own blood, the battle cry of his
regiment.
A large picture by N.. A. Schabunn, a Russian artist, is "After
Reaping," showing a Russian peasant woman, her arms filled with
golden sheaves coming through the grain field.
Several pictures in this room deal with court life of the last cen-
tury or so, a favorite topic with artists who enjoy the rendering of
satiny fabrics. Among these are "Neckerei" ("Teasing"), by H.
Buchner; "Court Tailor," by Thompson, and "Falconer's Recital," by
Vacslav Brozik, the last a picture full of brilliant color and humorous
interest.
Among the landscapes are Gordon Coutts' "Marin County"; "Dream
of Nemi," by Charles Walter Stetson; one by Courbet, a small canvas
by Broker and others.
The gallery contains several tiny canvases that are veritable
little gems of art, particularly in the field of character portraiture.
"Chess Players" is one of the best of these, and others worth while
include head studies by Grutzner, Piazetta, Emma von Mueller, H.
Schmienen and others.
A. Montemezzo is represented by "Caravan," a canvas of a type
not unlike the two Veltens — a delicately painted English country scene.
A miscellaneous collection of portraits, small landscapes, figure
studies and other paintings completes the gallery.
The remarkable painting by L. Beroud, "Rubens Room at the
Louvre," is the central feature of one of the art galleries in the 1920
unit. Hung at the end of the room, the picture is shown to the best
advantage, its strongly luminous atmosphere receiving full value.
The artist has represented an end of the famous Rubens room 01
the Louvre in Paris, where the precious treasures of the old master are
hung. Coming down the broad steps are visitors of varying types, just
such a group as might stroll into the gallery. A woman artist is seated
at an easel, copying one of the paintings, with a priest talking to her.
The difficult task of copying the Rubens paintings on the wall is met
36 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
by suggesting them in indistinct outline, the angle at which they are
viewed lending its aid.
Hung on either side of the Beroud picture are two pleasing
Western landscapes by T. Hill. One represents a lake, hedged with
trees and with cliffs in the distance, toward which two horsemen are
riding. The picture is touched with a warm sunset glow. The other
shows a bit of the plains with a snow-capped mountain in the distance.
A group of Indians in the foreground have kindled fires, and the light
smoke is rising in delicate lines.
C. . D. Robinson is represented by two large marines, one a night
scene in tones of intense blue, and the other "The Battle of Mobile
Bay."
The Venetian school of the late sixteenth century is represented
by Francesco Bassano's "Venetian Interior." Bassano lived from 1550
to 1591. The picture is dim with age, the background almost lost in
shadows. Strong lights are cast on the quaintly costumed figures of
period type.
Three excellent examples of the work of Charles Rollo Peters are
hung in this gallery, "Mission San Juan Bautista," "Elkhorn, Twilight
Glow," and "Casa Castro." "Mission San Juan Bautista" and "Caso
Castro" are typical Peters night scenes, painted in intense deep blues
and shadowy tones with the subtle touch of vivid light that brings the
darker colors into high relief. "Elkhorn, Twilight Glow" is a very
lovely study of marshland and water suffused with the crimson light
of sunset.
The gallery also holds four characteristic H. J. Breuers mountain
scenes with the vivid blue shadows and glittering white snow peaks
that are associated with this artist's name.
A William Keith hung in this gallery is a beautiful pastoral scene,
showing the slope of a hillside with dark shadowy trees and drifting
clouds, all in rich blue-green tones.
Anna Klumpke, the protege of Rosa Bonheur, is represented by a
portrait study of her father, a strong and easy presentation of the
old man with full white beard and hair. The pose is splendidly simple
and powerful.
A quaint picture, notable more for historic interest than artistic
value, is Oscar Kunath's "The Luck of Roaring Camp." It illustrates
the Bret Harte story, picturing the moment when the miners of Roaring
Camp made their contributions toward the support of the baby "luck,"
who lies on the table in the midst of the group.
Clarkson Dye has two good canvases in this gallery, "Street in
Havana" and "Golden Sunset," a study of strongly luminous clouds.
An interesting picture in which the artist has managed to meet
what was evidently an order to depict a type of grape characteristic,
of California, and yet has created a painting of artistic interest, is
Edwin Deakin's "Flaming Tokay." The grapes, true to nature and
excellently painted, hang in a Gothic arch of stone in a very interesting
and effective composition.
Among other canvases in this gallery are "Scene at Concarneau,
Brittany," C. P. Grayson; a Teniers portrait; Gordon Coutts' "Ghost
Story," an oddly decorative composition of a white-haired story teller
and his juvenile audience in a woodland setting; a print from a Lenbach
sketch of a child's head; a small Van Sluys; "In the Meadow," Julien
Jos; "Cabbage Patch," John A. Stanton; "The Coquette," W. J. Reyn-
olds; "Portrait of a Lady," Harriet Blackstone; "Landscape," Jules
Tavernier, and other smaller paintings.
"King Saul." Executed by W. W. Storey, one of the greatest of the world's
sculptors, from a sinslo massive block of Carrara marble. Statuary Hall.
The Corridor Exhibits
Some of the Museum's Best Canvases— "The Town Crier"
and "Sur le Zinc" — Pictures by Keith and other California
Artists.
Joseph Raphael's interesting and powerful painting, "The Town
Crier," is one of the principal pictures of the collection hung in the
corridor that leads from the entrance door to the 1920 unit. This
particular collection, incidentally,, contains some of the museum's
best canvases. In addition to the "The Town Crier" there may be
found Jules Pages' delightful genre picture, "Sur le Zinc"; three
Keiths; two Breuers; Harrison's lovely little "Dreamer" and "Breton
Fisher Boy"; a Charles Hollo Peters night scene; a landscape and
an effectively decorative "Wine Maker," by Arthur Mathews; a Lucia
Mathews landscape; two canvases by Frank Van Sloun; Charles
Grant's "Atlantic Fleet Entering Golden Gate, May, 1908; a Cadenasso
landscape; Edwin Deakin's "Doorway, Castle Cluny, Paris"; "Girl at
Piano," by Caroline Rixford Jahn, a charming portrait study; "Girl
Reading," by Mary Curtis Richardson; "Salmon Trout and Smelt,"
by Brooks.
The beauty of "The Town Crier" is the splendid handling of the
principal figure, the man in Dutch costume who stands in the midst
of a group of children, also in picturesque dress. He stands witn
his left foot advanced and his body in easy repose, yet suggesting
muscular strength and control. In his right hand he holds the huge
wooden watchman's rattle, the badge of his profession. The expres-
sion of the face is serious and dignified, but with a hint of humor
and kindliness. The children who surround him are carefully sub-
ordinated to the principal figure, keeping their individuality, but
so composed into the group and painted in such restrained tones that
the focal point of the canvas is the figure of the man in its dull blues
and browns. "The Town Crier" is one of the best examples of figure
handling in the museum's galleries.
"Sur le Zinc," by Jules Pages, is also interesting for its figure
work and the character study that is evident in its make-up. It is
a glimpse of a rather dingy little French cafe, evidently on the water
front, judging from the three patrons who lounge in front of the
bar. Behind the bar stands a buxom woman, muscular arms leaning
on the bar, on her face a smile of hearty good-fellowship and the easy
carelessness of her dress and hair excellently placing her type. Prom-
inently in the foreground stands a young man, perhaps a fisherman
or workman, in rough garb, hands thrust in the pockets of his trou-
sers and his shoulders slouched forward. Two men stand in the
background, and behind the barmaid are long shelves filled with bottles
and glasses. The composition is handled in long sweeping lines of
steady interest, particularly in the figure of the man in ' the fore-
38 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
ground. The color is clear and firm, and the entire picture is filled
with homely warmth.
The three Keiths, all landscapes, are excellent examples of this
painter's work. The largest, "Sunset," is a typical Keith product in
rich dark tones, the clumps of trees and the outline of the landscape
indistinctly suggested except at the center of the picture, where the
sun breaks through the clouds with a strongly luminous radiance, an
intense although rather somber glow that touches the edges of the
clouds with copper brilliance and lights up the tops of the trees.
Above this picture hangs another Keith, a charming landscape in
rich coppery tones, soft golden browns and darker shadows. It rep-
resents a flock of sheep passing through a meadow, and the warm
browns of the composition are beautifully handled.
The smallest of the three Keiths, which has been valued at $3000,
is a glimpse of a dark pool edged with dim clumps of trees. Cattle
stand at the margin of the water, and the soft obscurity of dusk falls
over the scene.
The two Breuers are typical mountain paintings in the intense
blue and glittering white that inevitably characterize the work of
this artist. These particular mountains are Mount Assiniboine and
Mount Sir Donald, snow-capped peaks.
"Dreamer," by A. Harrison, is a beautiful little canvas showing a
nude boy lying on the sands at the edge of the sea, his back to the
artist, his head propped up on one hand, and his whole pose filled
with the suggestion of languid, drowsy dreaming. The color tones
of the picture are beautifully soft and mellow, and the flesh tints are
delicately lovely. The edge of the water, with the tiny ripples slip-
ping over the sands, is charmingly handled.
"Breton Fisher Boy" is another Harrison of much interest. A
typical lad of the water front stands, hands in pockets, gazing up at
a poster affixed to a wall. The drawing of the figure is full of per-
sonality and humor, and the coloring is delightful.
The Peters canvas is a characteristic night scene in the deep
blue shadows that are instantly recognizable as Peters' work, with the
usual point of golden light to focus the composition.
Arthur Mathews' landscape is a painting in flat washes of mel-
low and subdued tones, decorative in composition. "The Wine Maker"
is also highly decorative in scheme, suggestive of a design for mural
use. The wine maker, wearing a simple classic drapery of dull red,
contrasting effectively with the brown tone of the flesh, kneels over
a wine jar, squeezing the grapes. It is also done in flat washes and
broad masses of color.
Lucia Mathews' landscape is similar in treatment to the Arthur
Mathews canvas, showing perhaps a slightly more general handling.
Frank Van Sloun is represented by an excellent portrait of Sir
Henry Heyman and "The Mirror," a study in unfinished handling of
a woman seated before her dressing table.
"Atlantic Fleet Entering Golden Gate," by Charles Grant, is a
historical painting, showing the white battle-ships of the day sailing
into a bay of intense and clear blue. The coloring is clear and
brilliant.
The Cadenasso landscape is somewhat impressionistic in tone,
showing a flat marsh country with tall, straight trees reflected vividly
in the pools of quiet water. The reflections are interestingly handled.
The Deakin "Doorway, Castle Cluny, Paris," is a graceful little
sketch of a pleasing bit of architectural detail.
THE CORRIDOR EXHIBITS P,9
Caroline Rixford Jahn contributes a good portrait study of a
young girl seated at a piano, a charmingly youthful pose.
"Girl Reading," by Mary Curtis Richardson, is also a portrait study
of a young girl, seen in profile. with head bent over her book. It
is very graceful and pleasing.
"Salmon Trout and Smelt," by Brooks, is a realistic presentation
of the glistening fish, displayed in the market.
On the opposite wall of this corridor hang about 125 water colors
of California wild flowers, interesting both for their artistic effect
and their botanical value.
The corridor displays are completed by the collection of large
photographs of Midwinter Fair scenes that hang on the wall op-
posite the Skae collection of paintings. All the buildings and pic-
turesque corners of the exposition that was the beginning of the
Memorial Museum are represented.
Eight small bronzes stand on pedestals in the two entrance cor-
ridors. They include reproductions of antiques and such pieces as
Cordonnier's "Herault d'Armes." •
The principal feature of the gallery devoted to water colors is the
collection of wild flower paintings by Mrs. Ellis Rowan of Melbourne,
Australia, who is said to be the most famous living woman water-
color painter of flowers and birds. Her work has won ten gold medals,
fifteen silver and four bronze awards at expositions.
This remarkable collection of paintings of Australian flowers
and birds was purchased and donated by Mr. de Young. The pictures
combine fidelity to nature and botanical or ornithological exactness
with artistic value, and are executed in minute and careful detail.
The general collection of water colors is of varied interest and
value. Among them are some good figure studies by Merz, including
a priest wearing a dull yellow robe that is interestingly handled, and
an easily posed figure of a fisherman. A. Farnsworth's little sketch
of "Chinatown" is pleasing, and a girl's head by Gamba is good.
Farnsworth also contributes effective little sketches of "Fisher-
man's Wharf" and "Bolinas Bay," and two Japanese studies, "Marine
Sunset in Japan" and "Scene Near Kamakura," by Hans von Hohen-
rest, are good in coloring. An old-style landscape is by Frederick
Nash, 1782-1856. Raoul Longpre fils contributes a sketch of lilacs.
Perez' "Chorister" is a good figure study.
Among other pictures in the gallery are "Walter Scott's Tomb,"
P. Fletcher Watson; "Yosemite Valley," Chris Jorgenson; "Man With
Guitar," A. Petrocelli; "Interior," H. J. Odissio; "Mountain Path,"
C. H. Chapin "Coast Scene," P. Paysons; "Whitewasher at Lunch,"
Kappec; "Lady," O. Ludovici; "The Reaper," D. E. Angelis; "Lovers,"
J. E. Clerc; "Indian Chief With Squaw and Papoose," E. B. King;
"Sedan Chair," Vardi; "Girl," R. Senit; "Military Sketch." M. L.
Potter d'apres Meissonier; "African Bird Seller," Ramirez; "Alham-
bra," Stanier; "Chrysanthemums," Mme. Coolo; "Blue Market Race,"
Cecil Alden; "Assassination," Charles Chatternole; "Cattle," L. Cou-
dello; "Fishing Scene," Mary Frutura; "Churchyard," P. Paysons,
and others.
Work of California Artists
Alice Skae Collection Contains Good Examples — Oils and
Etchings Are Shown.
A legacy of $10,000 left by Alice Skae for the purchase of the
work of California artists made possible the collection that hangs in
one of the corridor galleries leading to the 1920 unit. Twenty-nine
canvases and eight etchings were bought with the fund, all representa^
tive of Western work.
The majority of the pictures are landscapes, most of these showing
California scenes.
Charles Rollo Peters is represented by "Round Lane, Dorset," one
of his characteristic night studies in deeply luminous tones of blue
with dusky shadows and the inevitable point of sharply brilliant yellow
light that gives vividness to the picture. .
"Angora Peaks" is a water color by L. P. Latimer, an effective
mountain study.
Theodore Wores contributes "Street in Ikao, Japan," a colorful
glimpse of the Orient.
"October Day, Sonoma County," by Will Sparks, is a beautiful
combination of rich autumn tones, strongly handled.
Another autumn scene, with tall trees standing near a pool, their
leaves aflame with coming winter, is by G. Cadenazzo. The coloring
is especially vivid and rich.
"Sunlight and Shadow," by Aaron Altman, is a quietly restful
glimpse of the deep woods, with the sunlight sifting through the trees
in contrast to the deeper shades of the forest.
"Belle View, France," by Rinaldo Cuneo, shows an odd style of
brush work, an impressionistic use of the medium that gives an unusual
but effective finish.
Xavier Martinez has "The Road" an easily handled study in broad,
smooth coloring and masses.
"Mountain Village," by Henry Poor, is a characteristic land-
scape bit.
Gottardo Piazzoni's "Silence" is an effective use of suggestion, with
its dark pool, dusky trees that line the bank and the two figures that
glimmer indistinctly through the shadows.
"Summer Meadow," by E. Charlton Fortune, is a study in summer
lavishness of green grass and tree.
Another painting that is full of the hint of spring breezes and the
outdoors is "Turkey Farm," by John A. Stanton. The brilliancy of
the coloring and the airy lightness of the composition are good.
A water color by Percy Gray depicts "California Oaks and Wild
Flowers."
Amedee Joullin has an unusually effective landscape in tones of
brown and dull greens. The brilliancy of summer is lacking, but the
sandy banks of the little pool, the gray-green of the foliage and the
softness of the atmosphere are beautifully handled.
WORK OF CALIFORNIA ARTISTS 41
Carl Oscar Borg's "Golden Hour" is a lovely sunset scene, show-
ing a high mountain meadow with the sunset light resting on the tops
of the tall trees.
Painting the unsubstantial is accomplished by Maurice del Mue
in "West Wind," for the low horizon line of blue hills and lake,
with the white clouds heaped high into the blue sky, is full of the
suggestion of windy days.
"The Village" by Bruce Nelson, is a study in blue tones.
C. D. Robinson's "Storm on the Bay" is one of his characteristic
marines of particularly good effect. The angry light that gleams on
the broken water and the ships is full of menace.
"Golden Gate," by Clarence Hinkle"; "Blue Bay, Monterey" by
Burgdorff; "Docking," by Richard Partington; "Gold Before Twilight,"
by Ferdinand Clark Hobart; "Facing the Harbor," by C. Chapel Judson,
and "Loch on a Winter Morning," by Lee Randolph, are small sea
coast and lake paintings
"Navajo Gateway," by Francis McComas, is a glimpse of the vividly
colored Arizona mountains.
A splendidly atmospheric painting is "Corral Dust," by Maynard
Dixon, a vigorous sketch of cowboys and cattle full of the suggestion
of heat and smothering dust.
Gertrude Partington contributes "The Actress" a portrait study
with impressionistic values.
Betty de Jong's "Pancake Vender" is painted with the use of flat
tones and angular masses that was typical of Miss de Jong's work.
"Expulsion of Adam and Eve," by Frank Van Sloun, is decorative
in character and in the broad lines of its composition and color might
well have been designed for mural use.
"Impression," by Armin Hansen, is a still life.
Joseph Raphael's "Spring Winds" is an impressionistic presenta-
tion of the theme — a garden indicated by rows of color patches trees
lightly sketched and the figure of a woman in a cloak broadly
indicated.
Theodore Wores is also represented by a beautiful presentation of
the Santa Clara valley in the soft splendor of spring-time blossoms, a
delicate drift of pink and white.
The etchings are "Monterey Dunes," by Robert Harshe; "Before
the Wind," Armin Hansen; "Hillside Houses," Gertrude Partington;
"Fishing Day," a tinted etching by Pedro J. Lemos; "Champs Elysees,
Paris," Gottardo Piazzoni; "Chinatown," J. W. Walker; "Windswept
Pines, Monterey," Lee Randolph, and "The Cirque," Worth Ryder.
At the end of the gallery is a most interesting collection of five
large and twenty-three small sketches in oil by Julian Rix. All are
landscapes, beautiful little studies with firm, sure color and easy
handling. These are not part of the Skae collection.
Gallery of Engraving and Etchings
Historical Engravings of Great Interest — Reproductions of
Well-Known Paintings — Wood Engravings — Line and
Other Styles — A Whistler Specimen — Etchings of Cali-
fornia Artists.
Scores of valuable engravings of all countries and periods are
brought together in the gallery devoted to this type of art. Among the
items of special interest is the detail drawing of Trajan's Column, the
only other copy of which known is in the Vatican; some excellent old
English color prints, including some of the rare series, "Cries of Lon-
don"; a collection of engravings dealing with the life and history of
Mary Queen of Scots and a very complete and valuable display oi
Napoleonic engravings and cartoons.
The Trajan's Column engraving is a sketch in minute detail of
the famous monument under which were buried the ashes of Trajan.
The column, 97 feet and 9 inches high, is carved with some 2500
figures in relief, showing the victories of Trajan. The pedestal is
adorned with reliefs of trophies of Dacian arms, winged victories and
other motifs. In the engraving each figure on the side of the column
pictured is shown in detail and an explanation accompanies the draw-
ing. The engraving is an Italian production.
The de Young Napoleonic collection is exceedingly interesting and
valuable. There are many engravings depicting momentous scenes in
the life of the Little Corporal, and in addition a priceless set of colored
cartoons of English and French origin in which Napoleon is held
up to ridicule.
In the collection of American historical engravings are many of
great interest. Contemporary engravings picture scenes of national
importance, battle scenes of the Civil War, historic sessions of Con-
gress and similar moments in the Nation's life.
Among the engravings are many reproductions of well-known
paintings, such as the familiar Millais "Huguenot," "Sir Walter Raleigh
Parting With His Wife," Boulanger's "Appian Way," "Dernier Soupir
du Christ" and "Le Judgment Dernier" by Gue, and a good collection
of old portrait engravings, principally French.
Perhaps the most interesting of all the old color prints are those
which make up the series, "Cries of London." These quaint old pic-
tures, painted by F. Wheatley, R. A., depict the picturesque vendors
who haunted the streets of the London that Hogarth and Dickens
knew, crying their wares with historic phrases. The series includes
the seller of hot gingerbread, the vendor of "strawberries, scarlet
strawberries"; "knives and scissors to grind"; "fresh-gathered peas";
"cherries, round and sound, fivepence a pound"; "turnips and carrots"
and "sweet China oranges."
Line engraving, applied to such practical uses as the printing of
cards, is a method by which the picture or design is drawn on the
metal plate in cut lines, ink forced into the hollow parts of the plate
GALLERY OF ENGRAVING AND ETCHINGS 43
and the rest wiped clean. When the print is made the paper draws
the ink from the crevice, giving the finished work its characteristic
raised appearance.
Wood engraving, the earliest form, is practically the same as
block printing.
Mezzotint and etching have largely displaced line engraving in
recent years, except for specialized purposes. Mezzotint differs from
line engraving in that the surface of the plate is roughened to receive
the ink and produce the desired chiaroscuro instead of drawing
definite lines.
In etching the metal plate is covered with a coat of special prep-
aration, impervious to acid. The design is drawn on this surface
with a pointed tool, cutting through to the metal. Acid is applied and
penetrates through the lines, eating the design into the metal. Dry
point etching is done with a different tool directly on the plate, and
is frequently combined with the acid method to complete a picture.
Whistler's etchings are known wherever art is recognized. Meyron
led the French school, and the United States has produced many gifted
etchers, including such men as Joseph Pennell, Charles Platt, Stephen
Parrish and many others.
The museum has an excellent Joseph Pennell etching, a glimpse
of an estuary with broken-down wharves, piles and all the tangle of
a fishing village along its banks, and white-sailed boats in the distance.
Charles Platt is represented by a water front scene in sepia.
A Whistler etching of a bridge over a river bears the artist's
famous butterfly signature. It hangs directly under the Randal
Borough proof.
An interesting item in the exhibit of etchings is an artist's proof
by Randal Borough, a strongly tinted glimpse of a California forest
with tall Bohemian Grove trees and the firelight showing between them.
Other etchings are by Roy Partridge, James D. Smillie, Otto
Baclier, M. N. Moran, R. Swain Gifford, John Sloan, Robert Harshe,
H. Farrer, Mary Cassatt, George T. Plowman, Louis Harlow, Pedro
Lemos, F. S. Church, Andre Smith and Edwin Borin.
A dozen modern etchings are also shown in the gallery devoted
to the Alice Skae collection of pictures.
Jewels, Jade and Rock Crystal
Ivories, Gold and Silver Objects and Gems — Watches and
Snuff Bottles — the Kunz Gem Collection — Rock Crystals
— Rare Specimens of Chinese Jade — Silver Ships and Salt
Cellars — de Young Collection of Ivories — Spoons and
Plaques — Watches of Early Manufacture — Enamels and
Mosaics.
Like the treasure cave of Abu Hassan or the gold-freighted hold
of a Spanish galleon is the new jewel hall of the museum. The col-
lection which for years was housed in the Royal Bavarian palace rooms
has been transferred to the new gallery and largely augmented by
gifts from Mr. de Young, until the cases that line the walls and the
seven big floor cases are filled with rare and valuable objects.
Two cases are devoted to jade, one to the paler colors and the
other to darker shades. Between them stands the case containing the
magnificent display of rock crystal, a collection the value of which
runs well into the thousands of dollars. One case holds antique silver,
one is given over to richly carved ivories, and one holds objects of
gold, silver and silver-gilt. In the center of the room a flat case
contains the Kunz gems. The cases are so placed that from the adjoin-
ing galleries a striking vista of the room is obtained, the glass cases
permitting a view of collections beyond. Curator Penez and the mem-
bers of the museum staff devoted many days to designing the installa-
tion and placing each tiny object where it would show to the tullest
advantage.
The Kunz gem collection was made by Dr. George Frederick Kunz,
probably the greatest authority on precious stones and the author of
many books. It represents every type of precious and semi-preciou&
stone, many of them both in the rough and polished state, and brought
from all over the world. A mere listing of the gems shows their
variety: Cairngorm from New Zealand; nephrite (jade) from Russia
and East India; amber from the Baltic coast; rock crystal from
Austria; jadeite from Japan, India and New Zealand; obsidian from
Mexico; carbuncle from India; chalcedony from Brazil and Russia;
turquoise from Mexico and Persia; zircon from Ceylon; peridot from
the Levant; tourmaline from Brazil and the famous Mount Mica mines
of Maine; andalusite from Brazil; diamonds from Brazil and South
Africa; jasper from Asiatic Russia; syenite from Japan; lapis lazuli
from Persia; garnets from Siberia, New Mexico, India and Bohemia;
sapphires from Cashmere, Ceylon and Burmah, including several beau-
tiful star sapphires; topaz from Brazil, Spain and Russia; beryl from
Russia and the United States; amethyst from Brazil, the United States
and Russia; sardonyx from Germany; sunstone from Norway; moon-
stone from India and Ceylon; catseye from Germany and Ceylon; opals
from New Mexico, New Zealand, Honduras, Australia and Mexico; ony\
JEWELS, JADE AND ROCK CRYSTAL 45
from Germany and East India; aquamarine from Siberia; ruby gravei
from India, and many other less familiar geii
One of the most beautiful and valuable collections in the room is
the display of rock crystal. This clear, translucent substance, so
prized since ancient days, is a colorless and transparent variety of
quartz. It occurs as crystals, lining cavities in quartz veins, and
because it is frequently found in glacial districts and because it is
always cold to the touch, early beliefs held that it was a form of
congealed water or ice. The name crystal comes from the Greek word
for ice. It is found widely distributed throughout the world, but the
chief deposits are in Brazil, Japan, Madagascar, the Swiss Alps, Italy,
Cornwall, Wales, and sections of the United States, including New
York, North Carolina and Calaveras county, California, where a very
fine quality has been found.
Rock crystal has been prized as a material for ornaments from
the time of the Romans to the present day. The ancient Romans used
it both for this purpose, and, because of its hardness, as a tool with
which to incise their intaglios. • Of it they made vases, goblets, and
other ornamental objects, lenses with which to kindle the sacred fires
on their altars, and balls for various uses. Roman ladies of fashion
were accustomed to carry balls of rock crystal on hot days to keep
their hands cool, since this substance never loses its chill.
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries rock crystal was
especially popular, and artists of the cinque-cento period made very
wonderful carvings. In later years it was somewhat replaced by glass,
but true rock crystal has always been highly valued. Particularly
treasured are pieces that are flawless; a ball of rock crystal three
inches in diameter without flaw or chip is worth not less than $100.
Rock crystal, being a variety of quartz, is not always colorless,
although the tinted varieties are known by other names. Rose quartz
is a delicate pink, clear or milky; smoky quartz is a beautiful golden
brown, due to the presence of iron. Amethyst is given its purple color
by a minute mixture of peroxide, either iron or manganese. According
to Pliny, amethyst was highly valued among the Romans as a pre-
ventive of intoxication. Chrysophrase, allied to rock crystal through
its membership in the quartz family, is a translucent stone of pale
bluish or apple green, and is of great value. It is mentioned in Revela-
tion as the tenth foundation stone of the New Jerusalem, and sinco
antique times has been held a stone of good luck. Queen Victoria is
said always to have worn a bit of chrysophrase, and Russian legend
is that the wearer of chrysophrase will never meet with sudden death.
Chrysophrase occurs in California; when it was discovered in Tulare
county in 1896 jewelers from Eastern cities and London immediately
offered to buy up the entire output. Tiffany declared that the Cali-
fornia chrysophrase Is as fine as the best Siberian variety. Flawlesa
specimens, ready to mount in rings, are worth from $50 to $100.
The museum collection of rock crystal consists principally of tho
colorless variety with several pieces of smoky quartz, amethyst shades,
green and beautiful old rose to show the color possibilities. The most
conspicuous pieces are vases, goblets and ornamental objects, elabo-
rately chased and engraved with intricate designs and mounted in gold,
but for intrinsic value these are met by several perfectly plain 'but
flawless pieces, such as a flat dish, some six inches across, on which
the only decoration is a tiny engraved lobster; several clear balls, a
hollowed and halved egg-shaped object, the halves joined by a silken
tassel, and four exceptionally fine Oriental grotesques.. These little
46 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
figures, in particular, are so absolutely clear and flawless that the
ancient beief that rock crystal was congealed water is quite under-
standable.
The rose-pink variety of crystal is illustrated by several beautiful
pieces of carving, notably one large specimen in which the natural
form of the deposit is followed. Strings of beads are of varying tones,
and there is one unusual string of beads in crackle effect. How the
shaded quartz is adapted to carvings is shown in a small Oriental
group of two figures in which clear and smoky quartz are combined.
Another collection of great value is the display of jade, which
occupies two cases.
From earliest times jade has been set aside as an amulet stone of
magical qualities. The Chinese, whose jade carvings are unsurpassed,
regarded jade as "the quintessence of heaven and earth."
"Jade in China," writes Dr. Kunz, "symbolized all that was high,
noble and pure. Kwan Chung in 700 B. C. wrote that its smoothness
symbolized benevolence; its brilliant luster, knowledge; its toughness,
justice; its rarity, purity of soul. The smallest crack in jade is visible,
symbolizing candor. It can be passed from hand to hand without being
soiled or marred, hence it typifies a life governed by the highest
moral principles."
Jade, in its general sense, includes the two substances known to
mineralogists as nephrite and jadeite, although the term is now usually
applied to nephrite and jadeite as regarded as an allied substance. It
is found in various parts of the world, principally in the Orient, New
Zealand and Siberia. Jade implements found in the curious prehistoric
lake dwellings in the Swiss Alps were thought to have been imported
until later explorers discovered jade deposits in the Alps and in
Silesia.
The great New Zealand quarries are on the west side of the south
island, and there the Maori tribes gained the "green stones" that served
them as amulets. The New Caledonian jade is principally jadeite.
In China the quarries in the Kuen-Lun mountains of Turkestan
furnished the greater part of the jade used by Chinese artists. It ia
generally of a pale color and beautiful quality.
Siberian jade is darker in color and frequently veined.
Explorations in Alaska and Northern British Columbia revealed
the presence of jade implements in ancient native graves and on the
sites of ruined villages. The source of the material was unknown for
years until discovery was made of the Jade mountains, 150 miles from
the mouth of the Kowak river, where there are deposits of nehprite
that mineralogists have declared to be exactly similar to the New
'ealand quality.
At the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the natives of tnat
country and of Central and South America used green amulets that
have been declared to be jadeite. The Indians of Brazil prize jade
ornaments very highly as amulets against disease and snake bites,
Burmese jadeite is pale or almost white in color.
The most valuable qualities of jade are a very dark green unveined
color, and, most of all, the pale, opaque green that has been given the
descriptive but unattractive names of "mutton tallow" or "pork fat.'
Jade has, by legend, been given great curative and magical powers.
The Orient always held it to be supernatural in its powers, and pow-
dered jade was a medicine in Europe as late as 1726, being supposed
to cure heart-burn, asthma and thirst, and effective as a general tonic.
Peoples in all parts of the world have made amulets of jade.
JEWELS, JADE AND ROCK CRYSTAL 47
Jade ornaments have been found in the tombs of ancient Assyria, and
the Chinese mortuary tablets of jade, thousands of years old, compare
in historical value to the clay tablets of Babylonia, bearing inscriptions
with, the events of the reign of the honored ruler. Point Barrow
Eskimos have been found wearing talismans of jade, and the Maori
chiefs were never without their "hei-tiki" or quaint little jade gro-
tesques. These objects, several of which are in the museum in the
jade collection and in the South Sea exhibit, are grotesque in semi-
human form, usually about three inches in length and flat. The limbs
are curved, the body only indefinitely indicated, and the huge eyes,
placed at an angle in the head, are sometimes adorned with inlay.
The case devoted to mutton tallow and the paler varieties of jade
contains some of the museum's best specimens, notably a large cov-
ered dish that stands in the center of the case. Several of the
vases in the group are notable for their purity of color and the curious
greasy luster that distinguished the best jade.
Interesting objects in this case are the "Ju-i," or scepters carried
by Oriental officials. These objects are slightly curved wands, usually
about a foot and a half long and an inch or two wide. At one end
is a large circular piece or head, and other smaller discs are set at
the other end and half way down the stem. Officials or priests en-
titled to carry the scepter held it in both hands when they stood
before the Emperor, grasping the stem between the discs. "Ju-i" is
translated to mean "May all be," presumably interpreted as "May
all be well." This form of scepter or wand was introduced into
China and India at the time of the Buddhist propaganda from that
country. Pictures of Buddhist priests show them carrying such scep-
ters, and the "Ju-i" under its Sanskrit name was one of the seven
precious objects mentioned in the Vedas. It is a curious fact that
wands of the same shape were used for very similar purposes in
ancient Egypt.
The second case of jade contains objects of a darker quality ol
nephrite and jadeite, largely Russian and Siberian. Some of these
objects are of the valuable clear dark green; others are mottled and
streaked. Jade pieces in this case that are inlaid with jewels or
precious metals are East Indian; East Indian workmen were the only
artists in jade to make use of inlay.
Silver work of the Middle Ages is shown in a case filled with
antique tankards, vases and other objects, one or two modern pieces
also finding space here. The old German tankards are especially in-
teresting. They are heavy, solid affairs, capacious enough to hold
a man-sized draught of liquor, and elaborately ornamented with fig-
ures in relief and engraved inscriptions. One of the tankards is
marked "Eberhard Ludwig, Herzog zu Wurtemberg (Lord of Wur-
temberg), 1663." Another, with a long German inscription, is dated
1676, and a large silver vessel bears the date of 1686.
In the center of the case is a huge silver ship that served some
German Prince as a wine vessel, for under the stern is the tap through
which the wine was drawn. On the billowing sails of the vessel are
inscribed the names of "Johann Christoph Prinz von Boden Durlach"
and "Maria Christina Felicitas Grafin von Leinigen, 1711," suggesting
that the vessel may have been a wedding gift.
These table ships were interesting objects of the period. Fre-
quently they were made to serve as salt cellars and were placed in
the center of the table. An old book of the year 1500, "For to Serve
a Lorde," directs the "boteler" or "panter" to "set the saler in the
48 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
myddys of the table." Seats of honor were "above the salt," while
guests of lesser distinction were seated "below the salt." According
to the old books of etiquette, well-mannered persons helped them-
selves to salt "with a clene Kniffe."
Occasionally the table ship or "nef" was made large enough to
hold the goblet, spoon, knife and napkin used by the host, and was
given a name, just as a modern millionaire names his private yacht.
Another type of table ship is shown in the collection, a dainty
little vessel of filigree silver, intended to serve as an ornament.
A picturesque event of San Francisco's history is recalled by
the presence of a silver pitcher, "presented to D. S. Terry by Ladies
of San Francisco who admire his Courage, honor his Patriotism
and take the highest pride in his heroic resistance to Tyranny." It is
dated August 28, 1856.
Most modern of all is a silver model of the Berkeley Campanile,
made exactly according to scale.
Next to the case of silver stands the collection of European ivories
amassed by Mr. de Young on one of his early collecting tours abroad.
In the center of the case is the pride of the exhibit, a tall vase of
extraordinary size, carved with bacchantes, cupids, masks, fauns and
other dainty figures in the most delicate and perfect detail. A very
large elephant must have furnished the tusk from which the vase is
carved, as it is not only unusually large in diameter, but straight,
indicating that tne curved tusk has been cut away to provide a sym-
metrical piece for the vaae.
Another unusual example ' of ivory carving is a slender pipe,
fifty-four inches long, carved with rose wreaths in relief on the
slim stem and cupids on the bowl. Still another is the hunting horn,
carved from a giant tusk and decorated with intricately designed
scenes of St. George and the Dragon, a lively boar hunt, portraits of
Francis II and Charles IX, fleur-de-lis and other designs. These
hunting horns made from a single tusk were known as "oliphants."
Other ivories in this case, smaller pieces, single figures or small
groups, are particularly beautiful.
An interesting plaque of ivory carving and silver repousse is
exhibited in the ivory collection. It is a large elliptical affair with
alternating bands of ivory and silver outlining it. The ivory is
richly carved with bacchantes, cupids and other figures in minute
detail, and the silver is elaborately designed.
Centered about a large cabinet of Dresden porcelain and silver-
gilt, occupying the position of honor in the final floor case, are
objects of precious metal, plaques, vases, tankards, coronation and
commemoration cups, salt cellars, bonbonnieres and other articles.
The coronation and commemoration cups were made and dis-
tributed in honor of important events. Victoria's diamond jubilee is
commemorated by a cup bearing two likenesses of the Queen and the
dates 1837-1897; the coronation of Wilhelmina of Holland is the sub-
ject of another. A tragic history attaches to the Russian coronation
cup, presented to his people by the Czar in 1896. So great was the
rush to obtain the precious cups that thousands of persons are said
to have been trampled to death. Another cup in the collection honors
the defense and relief of Mafeking in 1899-1900.
Several interesting collections of spoons are placed in this room.
If "fingers were made before forks," spoons likewise long preceded
this late-arriving table utensil. Rude spoons of horn, wood or other
materials were used by the ancients, and the mediaeval world knew
JEWELS, JADE AND ROCK CRYSTAL 49
them well. The "Babee's Book" of 1476, evidently an old-time manual
of etiquette, instructed its youthful readers "ne playe with spoone,
trencher ne knife," suggesting, the table utensils of the day.
Two particular collections of spoons in the museum are the Swiss
canton spoons, a display in which each canton of Switzerland is rep-
resented by an especially designed spoon, and the valuable array of
Dutch silver spoons of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, pre-
sented by Mr. de Young. These Dutch spoons have very elaborate
handles, portraying Dutch scenes, windmills, canal boats and so on.
Many individual spoons and smaller collections are likewise in-
cluded.
On the south wall of the room are two cases in which are dis-
played antique - silver plaques, silver table bells, miscellaneous
spoons, and the de Young snuff bottle collection.
Notable among the shields is the Ivanhoe shield, made by C.
B. Birch, A. R. A., and serving as the Jockey Club prize at Newmarket
in 1883, when it was won by C. J. Lefevre's Ladislas. The shield is
a large affair, bearing in the center scenes from "Ivanhoe," various
inscriptions and other decorations, and around the edge portraits of
the Ivanhoe characters, in which has been traced a resemblance to
members of the British royal family of the period.
Two remarkable silver plaques in this display are seventeenth
century French work, made by Pierre Justin of Dieppe, a celebrated
ivory carver. One of the plaques illustrates the departure of Bohe-
mund I, son of Robert Guiscard of Normandy, on the first Crusade
of 1096, of which he was the leader. The other pictures the landing
of Bohemund's army at St. Simon, the port of Antioch, which was
captured from the Turks in 1097.
The unusual feature of these plaques, in addition to the minute
detail with which they are crowded, is the exceedingly high relief
of the figures. It is not merely a case of single figures standing out
from the background; entire groups are modeled in relief, so that
the foremost figures are in relief on those of the background.
Another antique example is an old Portuguese silver plaque which
was originally in the collection of Dom Fernando, grandfather of
Manuel of Portugal. It represents Una riding on the lion's back, a
lion of marvelous anatomy and friendly expression. An old Welsh
plaque with portraits and other decoration and an antique silver
sconce are also displayed.
Silver repousse, illustrated in these plaques and other pieces, is
a method of work by which the design is first hammered out from
the inside of the piece, and the hollows are then filled with a certain
kind of cement in which hot pitch is an ingredient. This, cooling,
forms a filling that possesses a certain elasticity and permits the
workman to go over his design from the outside, completing the
work. It was known to the ancients, and takes its modern name from
the French repousse, or "pushed out.'1
The silver table bells, part of the large and varied collection given
to the museum from the estate of Mrs. Morton Mitchell, are quaint
little affairs, shaped to represent women wearing very full skirts
to serve as the bell and with their arms often raised above their heads
to form a handle.
The de Young collection of snuff" bottles is an unusually inter-
esting one. The specimens are Oriental, the snuff bottle forming an
important part of Oriental equipment, and are made 'of many ma-
terials, including jade, amber, agate, jasper, cloisonne, cinnabar lac-
50 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
quer, rhodonite, rock crystal, quartz and other substances. In shape
they are small, round, flat bottles with rounded stoppers, and average
three inches in height. Often they are beautifully decorated with
chasing, inlay, carving or engraving.
Notable among the snuff bottles is a large red amber specimen
that stands on a separate shelf. The South Kensington Museum in
London treasures as one of its most valued exhibits an amber snuff
bottle, considerably smaller than the Memorial Museum specimen,
which is quite possibly the largest amber snuff bottle in existence.
The collection of watches occupies a wall case next to the snuff
bottles, and is excellently illustrative of the watchmaking art of
early years.
The manufacture of watches was due principally to the inven-
tion in the fifteenth century of the coil spring, which permitted econ-
omy of space. The first watches were made in curious shapes, more
attention being paid to unique cases than to anything else. One type
was known as "Nuremberg eggs," from their oval shape. The first
specimens had no crystals, and the single hand was seen through a
perforated case.
The earliest practical watchmaking was done by Peter Hele of
Nuremberg, a clockmaker who flourished in 1490. Immediately after
he demonstrated the possibilities of watches great progress was made,
and by the beginning of the sixteenth century watches were a rec-
ognized article of manufacture.
All during the next two centuries continued improvements were
made. The minute hand was' added; the second hand mechanism was
invented about 1780. Enamel dials replaced metal in 1650. Jewels
were used as pivot bearings in 1700, and soon after that time the
first keyless watches were made. Lepine of Paris made the first thin
watch in 1776.
Watches were counted among the precious possessions of royalty,
and were used as gifts among the nobility. Henry VIII owned a
watch that would run a week without rewinding. Mary Queen of
Scots had several watches, and in the time of Elizabeth watches were
well known. History declares that in 1571 Leicester presented to
Elizabeth a jeweled armlet in which a watch was set — perhaps the
first recorded wrist watch of the world.
The museum collection of watches is representative of the best
French and English work of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
in enamel, gold, silver and other materials. There are several ex-
amples of the heavy perforated metal cases, and some of the curiously
shaped watches of an earlier day.
A beautiful collection is the display of snuff boxes of the seven-
teenth and eighteenth century period. Most of these were donated
by Mr. de Young; others came from Miss Sarah Spooner, donor of
many valuable articles. The covers of many of the boxes are painted
with miniatures on ivory or porcelain; others are carved or jeweled.
A quantity of miscellaneous gold and silver articles, jewel boxes,
incense holders, trays, salt cellars and other objects are gathered
in the case given over to jewelry. Practically every type of work is
represented, both antique and of later periods.
The collection of personal jewelry is large and varied, especially
in the display of necklaces, .given by Mr. de Young. There is a
quantity of antique jewelry, Egyptian, Roman and from other ancient
lands, as well as an exhibit of East Indian work. This East Indian
jewelry is the ordinary method taken by the natives of India for
JEWELS, JADE AND ROCK CRYSTAL 51
the display of the family wealth. Traveling jewelers go from village
to village, carrying their tools with them. Arrived at the home of
a patron, they set up their little furnaces, and the purchaser provides
them with silver or gold, frequently in the form of coins, to be worked
up into necklaces, bangles, anklets, armlets, amulets or other articles.
Modern jewelry is also well represented in a large variety of
pieces.
Enamels and mosaics are exhibited in a well-filled case that con-
tains a very valuable collection of these types of work.
Much of the antique jewelry was purchased by Mr. de Young at
the sale of the Alessandro Castellani collection at the Hotel Drouot,
Paris, in 1884, and later given to the museum. Included in this col-
lection are Egyptian, Etruscan, Roman and Greek pieces, sixteenth
century Russian jewelry, Indian work, Louis XV chatelaines and other
pieces, and antique Spanish and Italian examples.
Modern Egyptian jewelry and modern European work are also well
represented.
Enamels and mosaics are exhibited in a well-filled case that
contains a very valuable collection of these types of work.
Enamel is defined as the art of ornamenting any substance with
vitreous material which is made to adhere by heat. The glaze on
pottery or porcelain is a class of enamel work as well as the making
of purely ornamental pieces such as plaques, tablets or enamel
pictures.
Cloisonne is the form of enamel work commonly used in the East,
but also well known in Europe. It is applied more frequently to vases,
dishes or other utensils, or large objects, and is made by filling with
powdered enamel the pattern divisions outlined with gold wire.
Champleve enamel is done by cutting into the metal base the
spaces to be filled with enamel instead of building them up with par-
tition wires. In this variety the dividing lines may be a part of the
pattern by making them of different widths or leaving raised portions
to be worked into the design. There are several modifications of
champleve work.
Surface enameling is divided into two principal classes — Limoges
and "email des peintres," or artists' enamel.
In the early examples of Limoges work the metal base was first
covered with a dark enamel surface. The design was then traced on
this base and filled in with white enamel. In firing, this white, mixed
with the dark base, formed a gray which was to serve as the darkest
shadows of the picture. The next coat of white was applied to the
picture, omitting these deepest shadows, and the process was con-
tinued until the final coat of white was applied only to the high lights,
which by the application of successive layers of white enamel were
made pure white.
This type of work was done at Limoges as early as 1475, and the
best period was from 1530 to 1600. Flesh tints and color were used
later, applied at the last firing of the piece under the final coat of
translucent enamel. After 1630 stencils were used under the enamel
to produce elaborate effects, but the first beauty of the work was
thereby lost.
Email des peintres was done in the same way as porcelain was
decorated, by painting the design on the enamel and firing it.
The museum enamels include several valuable Limoges specimens,
as well as examples of French, English and Spanish work. Notable
among them are two Spanish crucifixion plaques and two beautiful
52 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
SeVres pieces illustrating the scenes of the reception of the king at
the palace of the Due de Blois and the assassination of the Duke.
There are also many beautiful portrait pieces, old French and English
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and such highly artistic
examples of "email des peintres" as "The Lovers" and others.
Two interesting pieces are table tops of Sevres make. One of
these, with its elaborate gilt framework, has as the central feature an
enamel portrait of Louis XV, with miniatures of the ladies of his court
around the edge. These miniatures include portraits of Pompadour,
Leczinska, De Crequy, Du Barry, Comtesse de Sabian, De Monchy,
Duchesse de Berry and Mme. de la Parabere. The second table top
is of the same period, with miniatures of court ladies decorating it.
The three principal types of mosaic, Byzantine or Venetian, Floren-
tine and Roman, are illustrated in the museum collection. Byzantine
mosaic is distinguished by the use of large pieces of glass, usually
square, giving a rather impressionistic effect. Florentine mosaic
makes use of the natural veining of the material for shading in the
picture, and the pieces are cut to fit the design instead of being tiny
fragments put together. Roman mosaic uses very small bits of stone,
set in microscopic detail with beautiful effect. The portrait of
Columbus and two Venetian scenes hung on the gallery walls are
Byzantine; several small pieces in the case, notably a figure of a
woman in classic robes, are Florentine, and the Roman work is
represented by a reproduction of Guide's "Aurora" and a beautiful
table top.
Mosaic is a very ancient art. The Louvre and the British Museum
contains examples from Nineveh and ancient Egypt, ivory carvings
in low relief decorated with inlay of lapis lazuli. This early mosaic
was done on a small scale for use in jewelry and ornaments. The
fine Egyptian work was done by drawing bundles of colored rods to
extreme thinness and cutting off slices.
The Greeks of the fifth century B. C. began the use of mosaic
on walls and columns, and the later Greek and Roman mosaic pave-
ments are famous.
Four principal types of mosaic were used during the Middle
Ages; wall decoration of glass cubes; pavements of marble mosaic;
more detailed decoration and individual pieces, done in glass, and
mosaic of wood.
Elaborate designs were worked out by the fourth century Chris-
tians for the decoration of their churches and basilicas, but the art
of mosaic declined in the fifth and sixth centuries, and although there
was a brief revival in the ninth century, the real revival did not
come until the eleventh century, due to Byzantine influence. Then
were established the great Italian schools of Sicily and Campania,
Venice and Rome.
Mosaic is almost entirely an Italian art, the early Greeks being
the only other European people to adopt it. Mosaic work done in
other countries was due to the visits of Italian artists, although a
little native mosaic is found in Russia. The Moors introduced it into
Spain, but because the Mohammedan faith forbids the representation
of living creatures they were confined to geometric designs. Curiously
enough, the ancient Americans, Incas and Aztecs, knew the art of
mosaic, and specimens of their work have been found.
JEWELS, JADE AND ROCK CRYSTAL 53
The new Jewel Hall also houses the gold medal presented by
France to San Francisco in recognition of the city'.s heroic recovery
from the disaster of 1906. The presentation was made by Ambassador
Jules Jusserand at a public gathering held at the Orpheum Theater on
June 5, 1909, Edward Robeson Taylor, then Mayor of San Francisco^
receiving the gift. The medal, about four inches in diameter, bears
on one side a symbolical figure rising triumphantly and casting aside
the heavy robe of mourning, and on the other the figure of France
presenting a laurel wreath to America.
Miniature Collection
Old Monks Were Forerunners — First in Sixteenth Century-
Eighteenth Century Best Period — Fine Examples in
Museum.
The old monks who laboriously illuminated their parchment manu-
scripts were the forerunners of the artists whose brushes created the
delicate miniatures that serve to portray 'the fragile beauties of the
court of the Grand Monarque. The early illumination was done largely
in red lead, and from the Latin word for this substance, minium, is
derived the word miniature. Painters of the manuscript illustrations
were called miniators.
As separate pictures, removed from their manuscripts, miniatures
date to the sixteenth century. In the ancient volumes tiny pictures of
saints and angels are frequent; it remained for the artists of the time
of Hans Holbein (1497-1543) to adapt this form of art to secular uses.
Nicholas Hilliard (c. 1547-1619) is the first well-known miniaturist.
He was followed by his students, among them Isaac and Peter Oliver
(c. 1567-1647), who were the first to give roundness to the faces,
hitherto painted in the flat tones of the illuminators. They copied old
masters for Charles I and other noble patrons.
Early miniatures were painted on cards — sometimes on the backs
of playing cards — vellum, chicken skin and sometimes on bone. German
and Dutch painters worked in oil on copper. Ivory was not introduced
until the seventeenth century, but immediately became popular. Most
miniatures are done in water color on ivory or vellum.
The earliest portrait miniature recorded is a portrait of St. Louis
painted in the Credo of the Sire de Joinville (c. 1287). With the intro-
duction of printing, illuminated manuscripts disappeared, but miniatures
were well established as separate pictures.
The eighteenth century was the best period of miniature painting.
Ivory permitted the use of more delicate colors than earlier materials,
and ladies of the court were portrayed in all the dainty finery of their
beautiful gowns. Miniatures in enamel were popular from the middle
of the seventeenth century, and the popularity of snuff boxes as gifts
led to the use of miniatures to adorn their covers. In the eighteenth
century tiny miniatures were made for use in lockets and rings.
The art of miniature painting declined in England after the close
• of the seventeenth century, but revived with the work of Richard
Conway (1741-1821).
Miniature painting was introduced into France from Flanders by
Jean Clouet (c. 1530). Few examples of the earliest work exist. Jean
Petitot (1617-1691) was the first successfully to use enamel and in-
vented new colors. Jean Petitot fils, Jean Baptiste Masse (1687-1767),
Pierre Adolphe Hall (1739-1793) were the principal early French
miniaturists. The eighteenth century brought many noted painters of
miniatures, especially Largilliere, Nattiere and Fragonard. Later, in
the Napoleonic era, came Isabey, Dumont and J. B. Augustin.
MINIATURE COLLECTION 55
Mr. de Young has donated a great number of beautiful miniatures
to the museum, especially old French specimens and work of the
Napoleonic period. Portraits of nearly every famous man or woman
of the eighteenth century are included in the collection, members of
the royal families, of the nobility and other well-known individuals,
both French and English. Kings and queens include the three great
Louis of France, Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn, Catherine II of Russia, Marie
Antoinette, Mary Queen of Scots, Napoleon and others, as well as a
curious set of the five great moguls of India of the eighteenth century.
Miss Sarah Spooner also donated a large number of miniatures of
similar types.
. The museum miniatures are scattered through the building in
individual cases. Some of the best of the Napoleon collection are in
the Napoleon gallery. Cases are placed in the various art galleries as
floor exhibits.
The Coin and Medal Gallery
Money of All Nations Represented — Napoleonic Medal
Collection — American Medals Commemorating Presidents
and Special Events — Historical Medals of European
Countries — Military Decorations.
Unusually effective and satisfactory is the installation in the coin
gallery, where a valuable collection is displayed. The coins are placed
in wall cases lined with black, each coin standing on edge on a tiny
shelf so that it is easy of inspection. Coins are labeled individually
with value and date, and the general classification is geographical, the
principal divisions of North America, South America, Asia, Africa,
Europe and Oceanica being subdivided into countries.
Practically every country in the world, from the great powers to the
smallest Asiatic kingdoms, is represented by one or many coins. There
is a large display of antique coins, both European and Asiatic.
In the installation of large groups, such, for example, as American
ten-cent pieces, chronological order has been followed so that the
student may trace this particular value from its first type to its present
form.
The coins from North America include those of the United States,
Canada, Mexico and the Central American countries, and from a very
complete representation. Similarly, the European collection is large
and representative.
From Asia are some interesting and quaint old pieces, such as the
ancient "knife coins," which were current in China before the'Christian
era; porcelain gambling checks from Siam, which serve as unauthor-
ized but popular currency; specimens from the states of India, Burmah,
Tibet, the Malay peninsula, and other Oriental and Far Eastern lands.
The African coins have been gathered from all parts of Africa,
and since the African natives ordinarily used cowrie shells or articles
of barter, the coins are principally of modern make.
South America and the scattered islands of Oceanica, including
Australia and New Zealand, are also largely represented.
The exhibit of metal coins is supplemented by a valuable collec-
tion of paper money, arranged in book-leaf cases for easy inspection.
In the center .of the room stands a large case containing what
is probably one of the most complete collections of Napoleonic medals
in existence. It lacks only the gold medals to illustrate every medal
or token or coin struck cluring the Napoleonic period in all countries
over which the empire held sway. The gold medals are missing not
by lack of collection, but by accident. Shortly after the collection was
installed in the early days of the museum, the case was broken open
and the gold medals stolen, evidently for the value of the metal, as
no others were taken.
Notable in this display is a facsimile of the famous Waterloo medal.
This elaborate affair, measuring nearly six inches in diameter, was
designed and executed by Benedetto Pistrucci by order of George,
THE COIN AND MEDAL GALLERY 57
Prince Regent of England (subsequently George IV) to commemorate
the battle of Waterloo. It is said that the work required seventeen
years to complete.
The obverse of the medal shows portraits of George, Frederick
William III of Prussia, Alexander I of Russia and Francis I of Austria
— a group of rulers that would be exceedingly curious today, but that
at that time indicated the opponents of Napoleon; four horses, drawing
figures of the hours to signify the four points of the compass; a figure
of the Prince Regent holding a torch to signify the light that followed
the darkness of the Napoleonic era; Iris and Zephyr, typifying peace;
Castor and Pollux, typifying Wellington and Blucher; Themis, goddess
of heavenly justice, and Night driving a chariot along the lower edge
of the medal. The reverse shows Wellington and Blucher, or two
figures intended to represent them, with Nike, or Victory, leading them
onward; at the top of the medal, Jupiter in his chariot striking down
with his thunderbolts nineteen Titans, signifying the nineteen years
of the Napoleonic wars.
In spite of the work he put on the medal, Pistrucci never saw it
finally struck, for the project was abandoned. The museum specimen
is a copper electrotype of the original.
Napoleon had a veritable mania for ordering medals struck to
commemorate every occurrence at all out of the ordinary, and also
evinced an extreme fondness for portrait medals. This latter class
includes specimens showing Napoleon as Hercules, Apollo, Julius
Caesar and other inappropriate historical characters; in the uniform
of a General; accompanied by Marie Louise, Josephine and other indi-
viduals, not excluding Charlemagne; as well as at important moments
of his life. The Egyptian, Italian, German and Russian campaigns are
memorialized, and the series is completed by medals commemorating
St. Helena, death mask medals and others showing the conveying ol
Napoleon's body to the Hotel des Invalides.
The original collection contained 800 specimens.
Another medal collection of historic interest covers a series of the
rulers of France from Pharamond to Napoleon III. Pharamond, noted
in the Arthurian cycle, is said to have been the first King of France,
his reign being placed between 420 and 428 A. D.
American medals include portrait medals of the Presidents and
dies struck by Congress to commemorate special events such as
Grant's victories, Perry's victory on Lake Erie, in honor of General
Winfield Scott for the battles of Niagara and Chippewa, and so on.
Portrait medals date from the time of Alexander the Great.
Previous to that time medals had represented gods, nymphs, animals
or mythological beings, but Alexander, being regarded in some sort as
a divinity, was honored with a portrait and paved the way for many
others. Medal making was brought to a point of high perfection in
Greece.
The collection of historical medals is very large and valuable,
including many old English specimens, such as that struck to com-
memorate the coronation of William and Mary in 1689, the cession of
New Amsterdam to Great Britain by Holland, and similar events.
One case contains a display of medals won by the schools of San
Francisco at various world's expositions, including Paris, 1900; St.
Louis, 1904; Guatemala, 1915; Seattle, 1909, and Panama-Pacific, San
Francisco, 1915.
The collection of military decorations contains some unique speci-
mens, gathered in France, Spain, England and other countries. The
58 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Spanish decorations include the Order of Charles III, founded 1711;
commemoration medal, Battle of Morella, 1849; Order of Maria Isabella
Louisa, 1883; patriotic medal for soldiers and sailors wounded in
service; Reward for Valor, founded by Isabel II in 1864; Decoration
of Loyalty; Military Order of St. Ferdinand, 1811; Order of Benevo-
lence, an order for women founded in 1856 by Isabel II; Royal American
Order of Isabel the Catholic, 1815; Spanish Military Medal, and Mili-
tary Order of Merit, 1864.
From France are the Legion of Honor, military medal, Red Cross
medal of 1870; Order of Merit, Expedition to Mexico, 1862, and Italian
Campaign of 1859.
The Victoria medal, in the English group, is the last paid for by
the East India Company, and is known as the Indian Mutiny medal
It was awarded to members of the Ninth Lancers, Bengal Horse Artil-
lery and civilians. There is also a Crimean medal, awarded by Queen
Victoria to soldiers who served in the Crimean War. The museum
specimen has bars for the battles of Inkermann, Sebastopol and Alma
Miscellaneous medals include the Belgian Military Cross; Pacifica-
tion medal given to Russian troops who quelled a revolt of 1849 in
Austria; Expedition to China, awarded to French and other foreign
troops in China, 1792-1815; Italian Reward of Merit; Order of Kala-
kaua, founded in 1874 by Kalakaua I at his election to the throne of
Hawaii; a medal awarded by Frederick William III of Prussia (1797-
1840) ; the Japanese Rising Sun decoration, taken by a Russian soldier
from the body of a Japanese officer slain in a battle of the Russo-
Japanese war; a gorgeous star and cross of the Military Order ol
Christ (Portuguese), founded by Dionysius, King of Portugal from
1270 to 1325, and open to Catholics of noble lineage; the Order ol
Elizabeth (Austro-Hungarian), conferred on Mrs. G. L. Renstrom by
Francis Joseph for services during the Boxer rebellion; Order of
Nikhan-Iftikhar (Order of Glory), a French Tunisian order founded in
1857 by Achmed Bey, and the Madagascar medal, commemorating the
expedition to Madagascar in 1836.
The Mineral Galleries
A Valuable Collection — Mining Industry of California Well
Illustrated — Reproductions of Gold Nuggets — Crown
Jewel Reproductions — Silver, Copper and Other Ores —
Crystals — Geological Studies.
Eight large double floor cases and spacious wall cases house the
museum collection of minerals that is valued at many thousands of
dollars. The Max Braverman collection alone, donated in 1901 and
containing more than 1200 specimens, is valued at $10,000 and took
thirty years to make. Other special collections are included in the
general exhibit, as well as many individual specimens.
The mining industry of California naturally holds a prominent
place. How the miners of '49 worked is shown in some old prints,
with later photographs and drawings showing some of the famous
mines and plants of the State.
One case is devoted to gold quartz, principally examples of Cali-
fornia gold-bearing minerals, and affords an interesting opportunity
for comparison of the quartz from different localities. "Free gold,"
the gold present in pure form in scales or small nuggets, is illustrated
by several specimens, and others show all types of rock in which the
precious metal has been found.
Interesting in connection with this exhibit is the collection of
reproductions of the famous nuggets of the world. These huge affairs,
gilded to indicate their precious nature, are topped by the enormous
Welcome nugget, found at Ballarat, June 11, 1858. It was the largest
mass of virgin gold ever found, weighed 2166 ounces, was 9 by 20
inches in size, and was valued at $41,882.70.
Other Australian nuggets represented are the Precious, found at
Catto's Paddock, Berlin, Victoria, in 1871, which weighed 1717 ounces,
was 11 by 12 inches in size, and was valued at $31,577; also the Beauty,
found in Kangaroo Gully, Bendigo, Victoria, in 1858, buried only nine
feet below tlie surface. Its weight was 242 ounces, it was ^>Vz by 8
inches in size, and its gold value was $4714.
A specimen of California nugget reproduced was found in Oregon
Center, El Dorado county, and was 2% by 3 inches in size.
A large Siberian nugget, found in 1842 in the Ural mountains,
weighed about 100 pounds and was valued at $22,000.
Also in this collection is a reproduction of a genuine gold brick,
the output of the Morning Star mine, Placer county, California, for
the month of June, 1898. The original brick was 894 fine and was
valued at $28,754.70. It was about twice as large as an ordinary
clay brick.
This case also contains souvenirs of the Panama canal, including
specimens of earth and rock dirt of the type that figured in the
disastrous Culebra cut slides; soil from the bottom of the canal,
and a tube filled with strata of earth from Culebra cut, showing the
vari-colored nature of the soil. There is also a piece of lignum vitae
60 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
railroad tie from the first road laid across the isthmus, a road which
was said to have cost one life for every tie laid.
A glittering exhibit in this case is the collection of reproductions
of the crown jewels of the world, the largest, the Grand Mogul, that
once was the property of the Russian Czar. Others are the world-
famous British Kohinoor, the Orloff diamond from Russia, Etoile
du Sud, Brazil; Pacha, Egypt; Regent, France; Pigott, England;
Kohinoor, India; Nassack, England; Etoile Polaire, Russia; Sancy,
France; Schah, Persia; the famous Hope diamond, and the yellow
Grand Due de Toscane from Austria.
Silver, copper, lead and other ores are well represented in the
mineral collection. There is a case of unusually beautiful specimens
of agate, petrified wood and jasper, brought from all parts of the
world. These substances result when the organic matter of wood is
replaced by mineral matter, usually silicia, which deposits itself in
the cells, crowding out the organic matter, until the wood is entirely
transformed. Beautiful effects are the result, especially in veining
and coloring, and jasper, agate and petrified wood are known for
the wonderful polish they take.
The very complete collection of semi-precious stones shows the
gems both in their natural state and polished, and includes specimens
of practically every semi-precious stone known to mineralogists,
brought from all parts of the world.
The display of rock crystals is particularly large and interesting,
especially in connection with the exhibit of completed rock crystal
articles in the jewel hall. The natural crystals are shown, illustrating
the characteristic shape in which they occur, and the varied colors,
amethyst, smoky topaz, chrysophrase, rose pink and other shades,
are available for study.
A case of marble specimens shows the various colors, textures
and veining.
The mineralogist will, of course, find more to interest him in this
room than will the layman, but the beauty of the specimens, their
coloring and the graceful form of the crystals appeal to every one who
visits the gallery.
The Musical Instrument Gallery
Old Pianos — the First Upright Piano Brought to San Fran-
cisco— Percussion Instruments — Cavalry Trumpets — Horns
— Trombones, Etc. — Stringed Instruments.
One of the most effective galleries of the 1920 unit, from the point
of view of installation, is that devoted to musical instruments. Curator
C. D. Penez, in designing this installation, sought to classify the
instruments in the wall cases according to type and period, and
likewise to effect an interesting- and pleasing arrangement of indi-
vidual displays. With this in view, the shape of the various instru-
ments has suggested their arrangement in panels, radiating groups or
other styles.
The floor space is occupied by an exhibit of old pianos, the central
exhibit a beautiful example of the French piano of the Louis XV period
with a double bank of keys and the framework elaborately painted
and gilded. The inside of the lid is adorned with landscape and figure
paintings.
Another interesting piano in the collection is the first upright
brought to San Francisco. This small instrument, scarcely larger
than a cottage organ, standing only a trifle over three feet in height,
was brought to San Francisco from Australia in October, 1849, in the
sailing vessel Elizabeth Archer, Captain Cobb, by William Thomas
Sharp. In the early days of the city Sharp used this piano in giving
entertainments, and received $100 a night for his concert programmes.
There are several examples of English Broadwoods, possibly the
best-known European make; a French Monniot, dated Paris, 1830; a
Debain instrument from Paris, which is a forerunner of the modern
automatic piano, and other old pianos of the early nineteenth century.
The history of the piano as such goes back to 1709, when Barto-
lommeo Cristofori of Italy built four instruments designed as im-
provements upon the harpsichord and clavichord. These two instru-
ments, which produced their tones when the strings were plucked
with quills, lacked variety of tone,, Cristofori's "pianoforte," as he
named his new instrument, followed the fundamental principles of
the modern piano in that the strings were struck instead of being
plucked, and lived up to its appellation by producing tones both
"piano" and "forte," soft and loud. Like the spinet, it also differed
from the harpsichord in using wire instead of catgut for strings,
although the spinet keys were plucked instead of being struck.
Until 1760 all pianos were made in the shape of the modern grand
piano. Then Zumpe, a German workman in a London establishment,
made a square piano, and the type became so popular that London
grew into the world center for pianos.
Broadwood in 1790 made many improvements on the piano, espe-
cially in the line of the production of a fuller and richer tone. The
Broadwood action was substantially the action of the modern piano.
About the end of the eighteenth century piano makers, to save
space, tried experiments with upright instruments. At first they
62 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
simply turned a grand piano on edge. The first real uprights were
patented in England and the United States in 1800 by John Isaac
Hawkins, an Englishman living in the United States. These instruments
possess practically all the essential features of modern pianos.
The first composition especially for the pianoforte was written
in 1773 by Muzio Clementi, who composed three sonatas for the new
instrument. Much of the advance in piano construction was due to
the work of Beethoven, whose piano compositions were so far beyond
the powers of the piano of his day that makers were forced to make
improvements to meet his demands for power of tone, range and other
features, adding more keys, thicker strings for more tone, and so on.
The Cristofori piano had a wooden framework with four octaves.
The modern instrument has a metal framework with more than seven
octaves.
Probably the oldest musical instrument was a percussion instru-
ment or drum, manipulated by some primitive man who discovered,
doubtless by accident, that a bit of skin stretched over the end of a
hollow log gave out a pleasant booming sound when he struck it. The
collection of percussion instruments ranged in the museum cases
illustrates the descendants of this primitive drum from the native
material of African and South Sea tribes to the modern snare drum.
Gourds are favorite drum bodies for African musicians. One
unique adaptation of the gourd is the "African piano," used by the
Fan tribe in the interior of Africa, which, except for the primitive
nature of its construction, is almost precisely like the modern xylo-
phone. Gourds of varying sizes are ranged on a framework and are
designed to be struck, giving out the tones of what, to the native
African ear, was a scale.
The African tomtoms are usually designed to be rubbed with the
hand instead of struck with a stick or mallet. A skilled drummer
can produce a tone of tremendous booming power by rubbing his
hand over the surface of a tomtom. Voodoo doctors of the Southern
States exhibit their inheritance from jungle ancestors by using the
same method in their rites, according to those who have studied their
weird practices.
Quite probably the native drums that now rest quietly in the
museum cases have sounded through the African jungle, perhaps
calling the warriors to battle with another tribe or with white in-
vaders.
The South Seas are largely represented in the collection of drums.
New Guinea drums with heads of snakeskin, drums from the Marshall
islands, Hawaii, Samoa and various parts of Australia, show many
types of workmanship.
The Orient also contributes numerous models of drums, including
instruments from China of all shapes and sizes, a Japanese drum
rudely made from a section of a hollow tree, cymbals, a Japanese
bronze gong and similar instruments.
From the Mediterranean countries of the Near East come Turkish
and Sudanese tambours, drums and tomtoms, and tambourines from
Egypt and Arabia in many forms.
Two interesting American Indian drums are shown, one a war
drum captured from the Kiowas and the other a Spanish medicine
drum made by the Pueblo Indians.
Among the European instruments are a set of old German snare
and bass drums, ornamented with the double eagle; a cavalry kettle-
drum used in France in 1804, and a snare drum which from its inscrip-
THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT GALLERY 63
tion, "Vive la Republique," evidently dates from the days of the French
Revolution.
Next to the percussion instruments are the brasses, including
trumpets, horns of all descriptions, mediaeval instruments of curious
shapes and modern developments. Brass instruments have changed
very little from their original conception, except that the freakish
types, such as the serpent-mouthed bassoons and curiously curved
horns of early days, have disappeared. The principle remains the
same.
The collection of cavalry trumpets includes several relics of the
Spanish War and other battles. Among the early types are the
ancestor of the saxophone, a tuba made at Paris in 1765, the original
alto horn, an early model of the slide trombone, examples of the
ophicleide or 'serpent, an oddly shaped horn curved in a double wave
and used sometimes in church music; an extraordinary German bas-
soon and shepherd horn with enormous mouths carved and painted
into the semblance of serpents' lieads, and a complete representation
of modern types.
The woodwinds include flutes, flageolets, oboes, clarinets, sets
of pipes resembling Pan-pipes from Turkey, Japanese flutes, bag-
pipes and other instruments of allied nature. There are several
interesting sixteenth century Italian clarinets, showing that this par-
ticular instrument has changed but little in the centuries since then,
and a number of very old French instruments of the flute type.
The stringed instruments form a most interesting and varied
collection. Beginning with the harp, this type of musical instrument
has developed through the various forms of lyre, cithern and similar
classes, to the guitar family, violin types and, on another side, to
the piano, descendant of the first harp that was laid on its side to
be played.
Of the earlier types of harp and its immediate descendants the
museum exhibits a sixteenth century cithern, an Italian archilute
made by Michelle Atton of Venice in 1610 and shaped like a huge
mandolin, old Spanish guitars of early Californian days, a sixteenth
century Italian theobro with a round sounding box and very long
neck, a Spanish mandolin of 1787, a Danish mandolin of the cithern
type, a First Empire lyre and other instruments of the Gothic and
Renaissance period of varying shapes and design.
From countries of the Far East come the Hindustani bina, which
employs the useful gourd as the sounding box of the instrument
and has an extremely long neck like the theobro, a triangular kanoon
or Arabian harp, Chinese and Japanese harps, some plucked with the
fingers and others played with bamboo hammers; an odd-shaped
Mexican umbrella harp, a half-cylinder with the strings on the curved
side; Turkish, Persian, Egyptian and other guitars, lutes and a dul-
cimer, presumably of the type on which the "Abyssinian maid" of
the poet was wont to play.
The violin family, including stringed instruments played by friction
with a bow instead of being plucked or struck, is represented by
several interesting examples, old and modern. The collection includes
violins, violoncellos, bass viols, violas and allied types, as well as
many quaint Oriental instruments, such as the samisen or two-stringed
fiddle, the Chinese pou goum or large fiddle, and the yue kin, an
instrument with a round sounding box and short neck.
A picturesque development of the violin family is 'the hurdy-
gurdy, associated with wandering musicians. The examples in the
64 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
museum show this instrument to be shaped like a large and rather
clumsy violin with a keyboard on the top of the sounding box. It is
played by the friction of a rosined wheel revolving against the strings,
the crank operating the wheel being turned with the left hand while
the player manipulated the keyboard with his right hand, stopping
down the strings as desired.
The violin reached its point of highest perfection in the seven-
teenth century when Andrea Amati of Cremona, his sons, Antonio
and Jerome, Nicholas Amati, Jacob Stainer of Cremona and Antonio
Stradivarius were making the instruments to which their names have
been given.
Included in the museum exhibit are several old-time melodeons,
accordions, hand organs, concertinas and an odd little hand organ or
"organette," known as the "musical marvel," which looks rather like a
miniature piano player operated on the familiar principle of a per-
forated music roll. The melodeons date back to the early nineteenth
century; one was used in Maine in 1830 and one came to California
around the Horn from Vermont in 1850.
A quaint old music book of 1845 lies in its case opened at "The
Star-Spangled Banner," then a comparatively new patriotic air.
The collection of Oriental instruments is very complete and
interesting, containing specimens from China, Japan, India and other
Far Eastern countries, supplemented by many from Egypt, Persia,
Turkey and the countries of the Near East.
Textile and Embroideries Gallery
Sketch of the Development of the Indystry — Embroideries —
Costumes of Various Periods — Laces — Fans in an Infinite
Variety — An Alabaster Model of the Taj Mahal— Dolls
— Kimonos.
The industry that began when some primitive man discovered that
he could plait together fibers of grass to make a covering for himself,
and that today is represented 'by thousands of busy factories filled
with humming machinery — the textile industry — has a history that
is as interesting as it is complex. Not only the weaving of cloth is
to be studied, but also the many methods of decoration of woven ma-
terial, embroidery, lace-making, the use of precious metals, the dis-
covery of new fabrics, the adaptation of cloth to many purposes and
the whole history of costume, so closely identified with the progress
of the art of weaving.
The weavers of ancient Egypt, Assyria, Greece and the other
countries of the world of antiquity knew only one type of work, shuttle
weaving in simple designs. Their materials were spun wool, flax and
possibly cotton, and they had not developed the art of weaving pat-
terns into their materials that was later to grow into the great in-
dustry of tapestry making. Colors were of the simplest, red, purple
or yellow, done with vegetable dyes, and the product of their looms
was plain texture or woven in stripes or plaids.
The weaving of these ancient peoples was essentially the same
as that done by the present-day natives of undeveloped lands, the
Indians, South Sea islanders and Asiatics.
Elaborate patterns in weaving originated in the Orient. The
Chinese, possessing the secret of silk for perhaps 2500 years before
the Christian era, developed more complex looms on which to weave
this delicate and beautiful thread. As trade grew between China and
Europe, coming through Persia, India and the Levant, these attractive
designs came to the notice of European weavers and stimulated them
to turn out work of equal quality.
That impressively named Emperor of Rome, Heliogabalus, who
flourished in the third century A. D., is said to have been one of the
first, if not the first, Roman ruler to attire himself in robes all of
silk from the Orient. From the third to the seventh century the
Persian trade with Rome, and later with Byzantium, brought Europe
all the silk it knew, but in the sixth century two of the missionary
priests, whose activities did so much to weld together the distant
parts of the world, brought home — tradition says in a hollow stalk
bamboo — some silkworms and cocoons, with the secret of their use.
Under the reign of the Emperor Justinian, in the sixth century,
a practical monopoly of silk was established in Rome. Silk weaving
was restricted to certain establishments where women weavers were
employed. Naturally silk was very costly, and only • royalty and
wealthy nobles could afford to wear the new materials.
66 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
With their hatred of worldly display the early Christian leaders
denounced the wearing of rich silks, but found the new material ex-
cellently adapted for the purposes of church adornment. Ecclesias-
tical embroidery on silk began to appear in the fourth century, notable
for the lavish use of gold thread. One early tenth century maniple
is described as being of "woven gold, with spaces left vacant for
needlework." Like so many examples of early textile art, this par-
ticular piece was later used to render last honors to a saint, and served
at the burial of St. Cuthbert.
With the textile industry well established in Asia Minor and grow-
ing in the Italian peninsula, Spain received it, as she received so much
else, from the Moors, who took their knowledge of weaving with them
when they made their invasion.
The next wholesale importation of textile art into Italy came when
Roger Guiscard (Roger of Sicily), in 1147, made a raid on Attica,
sacked Athens, Corinth and other cities, and took back with him to
Palermo a number of Greek weavers. These workmen brought a
knowledge of Byzantine art to the Saracenic weavers already working
in Sicily, and the result was a very rich and beautiful form of tex-
tile art.
In the thirteenth century this new industry extended into Italy,
and Florence, Milan, Genoa, Venice and Lucca became the centers of
textile development. Almeria, Granada, Valencia and other Spanish
cities were already developing the art extensively.
An interesting form of weaving of this time was the making of
small pieces on miniature looms. Nuns and noble ladies spent their
time weaving these richly decorated pieces and embroidering stoles,
maniples, bands and other pieces for church use.
The early fabrics popular with weavers and embroiderers in-
cluded sarcenet, taffeta, camora and similar materials, with fustian
for commoner use. Later the manufacture of satin, damask and brocade
was developed, and about the end of the fourteenth century the
weaving of velvet was tried. One very popular weave, known as
baudekin, was of silk and gold. The material was much used for altar
canopies, and the Italian term baldachino, now applied to this form
of church decoration, is derived from the name of the old-time material.
The names of many materials indicate their origin. Satin comes
from "aceytuni," applied to silks of Mediterranean make, a word which
became "zetani" and later the familiar "satin." "Damask" is from
Damascus, "velvet" from the Italian "velluto," or "shaggy"; "muslin"
from Mosul, "gauze" from Gaza, and so on.
Satin is mentioned in English records of 1350, when the cathedral
of Exeter received a gift of satins from Bishop Grandison.
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes served to scatter French
Protestant textile weavers into England and France, and thereby stim-
ulated weaving in those countries.
Linen damask was woven in the flax-growing countries of Sax-
ony, Flanders and Northern France. As late as the fifteenth century
is was rare and valuable. Only wealthy persons could afford linen
tablecloths, and they seldom had more than two or three in their
establishment. French Protestant refugees of the seventeenth cen-
tury assisted in the development of linen weaving in Ireland, where
native weavers had already begun to make the damask for which the
country became famous.
Textiles and embroidery of the Middle Ages were very elaborate.
Old records tell of jeweled and embroidered robes so heavy that the
TEXTILE AND EMBROIDERIES GALLERY 67
unfortunate clergy compelled to wear them could scarcely walk under
the weight. Even as late as the seventeenth century massive and
elaborate effects were the rule for court costumes. The pictures of
Elizabeth of England and her courtiers show them wearing such a
tremendous weight of decoration that modern garments seem fragile
indeed.
Embroidery is the earliest form of decoration of textile fabrics,
preceding the weaving of patterns. The oldest piece of embroidery
known is a linen robe found in the tombs of Thebes and embroidered
with the cartouche or signature of Amenhotep II, whose reign was
fifteen centuries before Christ.
No specimens are known of the Babylonian and Assyrian em-
broidery shown in their tomb paintings, and the Greek examples are
fragments in wool taken from tombs of the fourth century B. C.
In Rome embroidery was called "painting with the needle," but
the work done in ancient Rome itself has perished. Such examples
as exist are from the Egyptian tombs of the period when Egypt was
under Roman influence.
With the establishment of the Christian era, embroidery began to
survive. By the time that Constantine was reigning at Byzantium
embroidery was a well-known art. A famous example of that time
is the dalmatic of Charlemagne or Leo III, kept in the treasury of St.
Peter's. Some authorities assign this to the twelfth century instead
of to Charlemagne, but at all events it is very old and exceedingly
elaborate, with its silk and gold decorations and embroidered pictures.
Palermo of the twelfth century was the next center of embroidery,
the art developing along with that of weaving when Roger Guiscard
forcibly imported his Greek workmen.
National styles began to show about this time, and the applica-
tion of embroidery to ecclesiastical purposes brought about the cre-
ation of wonderful pieces that have survived the centuries, due to
the care given them in the churches.
Probably the best-known piece of embroidery in the world has
masqueraded under a misleading name for centuries. It is the Bayeux
tapestry, which is not a tapestry at all, but embroidery on linen. A
reproduction of a portion of this famous work hangs in the European
textile hall at the museum, made by Emma Debussy, wife of Claudo
Debussy, the composer.
The Bayeux tapestry is a linen band 230 feet long and about a
foot and a half wide, embroidered for its entire length with the scenes
of the exploits of William the Conqueror. Tradition says that Queen
Matilda, wife of the great fifteenth century adventurer, did the work
herself with the assistance of her maids. For many years the famous
work dropped out of sight, until a student of textiles found it hung
in the nave of the Bayeux Cathedral, where little or nothing was
known of its importance. It is now hung in a special building at
Bayeux, built solely to house it, and from which is was once re-
moved to Paris to be exhibited at the order of Napoleon.
The naive portrayal of battle scenes, armies on the march, dip-
lomatic parleys and other episodes of William's history is delightful.
Rules of anatomy are regally discarded, and horses and men of ex-
traordinary structure parade down the picture. Latin inscriptions
above the pictures remove all doubt as to what the scene represents.
The colors are also oblivious of rules; red and blue are scattered
through the picture as if the workers had picked up whatever skein
happened to be closest at hand.
68 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
After the fourteenth century the history of embroidery in Europe
may be briefly summarized. In England the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries saw a decline, with a revival beginning in the sixteenth
century and developing into a recognized school in the years that fol-
lowed. The London Company of Broderers was incorporated during
the reign of Elizabeth and flourished until the execution of Charles I,
when the stern Cromwellians discouraged embroidery and the demand
fell off.
Much excellent work was done in France, especially in church
embroidery. A book of rules was published in the fourteenth century
by Etienne Boileau governing the work of the "embroiderers and em-
broideresses of the City of Paris," in which, among other items, night
work was forbidden because of poor light. Men were largely num-
bered among the embroidery workers of mediaeval times instead of
leaving the industry to women.
After the fourteenth century Italy developed a notable school of
work, especially in Florence. The leading painters thought it no
waste of time to design patterns for embroidery, and magnificent ec-
clesiastical pieces were turned out.
Spain showed the Moorish influence up to the fifteenth century,
when Italian styles began to creep in. A Guild of Embroiderers was
in existence in Seville in the early fifteenth century, and a similar
organization flourished in Toledo.
German embroidery showed Byzantine influence in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, later developed a national style in bold and
heavy patterns and color. Cologne was the principal center.
The northern nations developed the art in later centuries.
Painting and jewelry were introduced as accessories of embroidery
in the sixteenth century, when precious stones were first sewn to
embroidered garments. Royalty liberally patronized the industry, the
elaborate costumes worn at the mediaeval courts calling for a vast
amount of work. Royalty itself dabbled in the art. Katherine of Ar-
ragon, Elizabeth of England, Mary Queen of Scots, Catherine de Medici,
Anne of Brittany and many another royal and noble woman of the time
"wrought with her needle."
Asia began to embroider in early times. The beautiful effects
of embroidery on silk were recognized centuries ago by the Chinese,
who later taught their art to the Japanese and to other peoples. In-
dian embroidery used quantities of tinsel and gaudy adornment. Jap-
anese embroidery tended toward the pictorial, and painting was often
used to supplement the needlework.
Persia applied embroidery to carpets and other fabrics, and in
spite of Mohammedan prohibitions used figures in the design as well
as floral or geometric patterns.
The principal stitches of mediaeval embroidery were the chain
stitch, each taken through the loop just laid; tapestry stitch, close
single stitches of uniform size on special canvas; satin stitch, long,
smooth stitches of irregular length, and couching, solid masses of
gold or silk thread laid on the material and sewn by long and short
stitches at right angles. Embroidered sections were often cut out and
appliqued to a brocade background, and this method of work was rec-
ommended by Botticelli as especially durable and satisfactory for
church embroidery.
The Memorial Museum is fortunate in housing an unusually fine
collection of embroideries, made by Mrs. Magdalena Nuttall and placed
in the museum in her memory by Mrs. Hilda Nuttall. More than 200
"Merope," the Lost Pleiad. The most wonderful creation of Randolph Rogers,
great American sculptor. This work is eight feet high. Statuary Hall.
TEXTILE AND EMBROIDERIES GALLERY 69
pieces are included in this collection, which took thirty years to make.
It was formerly in the Fritz William Museum at Cambridge, England,
and is valued at $60,000.
The Nuttall collection includes samples of needlework, embroider-
ies and laces from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, France, Spain,
Italy, the Netherlands, the British Isles, China, Japan, New England,
and many specimens of ecclesiastical embroideries of the fifteenth to
eighteenth centuries.
Especially fine are the Italian pieces, representing the best work
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Among the examples are
seventeenth century Roman embroidered bands, several Calabrese
church pieces of the sixteenth century in beautifully designed patterns
and heavy embroidery, a Sicilian table cover made in a Palermo
convent; framed samplers, work done in convents and a quantity of
old ecclesiastical examples, collection bags, altar cloths, chalice veils
and so on.
The Spanish work includes some of the embroidery done "at Seville
in the seventeenth century, a conventionally patterned towel from
Toledo of the same period and some fine examples of Mexican work,
such as embroideries from Oaxaca, where the best Mexican work is
done, and embroideries, including a portion of the Madonna's dress,
from the Church of San Antonio Abad, one of the oldest churches in
the City of Mexico.
Many beautiful Russian pieces are included, hand-woven towels
embroidered in the characteristic reds and blue; a bridal headdress
and veil, not of the conventional lace of the Western world, but of
heavy black satin elaborately embroidered in gold thread; bits of peas-
ant costumes and decorative examples.
The brilliant hues used by the Balkan nations are shown in Bul-
garian and other work. France is represented by many good pieces,
including some rare Provencal embroidery and many examples of
lace wo.rk.
The general display of textiles and embroideries in the gallery*
devoted to Occidental textiles includes numerous samplers and pic-
torial embroidery, among which are some very old church pieces in
frames, one eleventh century piece representing Christ and the Virgin.
Two interesting scarfs show the work done by the Almaras In-
dians who ruled Peru and Bolivia in the early days. The fabric was
woven from homespun threads and colored with vegetable dyes, the
formula for which is lost. These specimens date from the Spanish
colonial epoch, and the work is no longer done.
The sheer pina cloth woven by the Filipinos is shown in its just-
completed state and in garments made from its thin texture. Moro and
Filipino embroideries are also included.
An interesting relic is a handkerchief, once the property of Rosa
Bonheur and given by her to her protege, Anna Klumpke. The hand-
kerchief is comfortably large and is elaborately embroidered with a
conventional design surrounding two stags and the initials R. B.
This gallery also houses a valuable collection of costumes of vari-
ous countries and periods. Several Bavarian peasant costumes are
exhibited, showing the full pleated skirts, heavy bodices with a ver-
itable armor-plate of embroidery, and the jeweled headdress. The
dresses are in brilliant red and blue, and were designed as wedding
costumes in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Odd-
shaped national headdresses are caps with fan-shaped adornments of
gold lace and long black drapes.
70 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Among the old bits of costume are a Spanish satin waistcoat of
the, Louis XIV period, elaborately embroidered; an old Spanish opera
cloak of velvet, heavily embroidered, worn on gala occasions in Gra-
nada; several wedding vests of brocade; an eighteenth century Ger-
man bodice with heavy gold braid and spangles; two faded old Ba-
varian silk umbrellas; a blue and red Bulgarian costume, showing the
typical embroidery in cross-stitch; several bead bags of the English
and American colonial period; shoes worn at a ball given by Wash-
ington; early nineteenth' century patchwork quilts and blue and white
hand-woven bedspreads; quaint old lace carriage parasols; a calash,
or enormous poke bonnet of brown silk, worn in 1718; colonial poke
bonnets, and finally a large number of gowns donated by San Fran-
cisco women of years gone by. Mrs. M. H. de Young gave several of
the gowns, with their odd old bustles, lace frills and sweeping skirts,
and hats of marvelous style.
The lace collection in the museum is very large and representa-
tive. Miss Sarah Spooner donated a fine collection of laces of many
types, and other donors have supplemented her gifts.
The history of lace is one that has furnished material for many
books, and the beautiful material itself has always been popular with
collectors. The most ancient specimens of lace known are knotted
hair nets found in the tombs of Thebes, which date back to about 2500
B. C. The oldest large pieces which more nearly resemble the lace
of today are two albs, one said to have been woven by St. Clare and
her nuns and worn by St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) and the other
worn in 1298 by Pope Boniface VIII and now in the Sistine chapel
at the Vatican. Both albs are of linen, ornamented with lace like
drawnwork. Many portraits of early churchmen show their robes
adorned with lace.
The first lace was made with a warp or net, like weaving. Needle
lace, in which designs are made by laying threads over the main line
of the pattern, drawn on paper or other material, and fastening them
together with stitches, and bobbin or pillow lace, in which threads,
each wound on a bobbin, are guided around pins that outline the
pattern on a pillow and woven together to form the lace, are later
developments. Machine lace imitates both these varieties. Although
needle lace is known as needlepoint, all point lace is not of this
variety. Point is a general word for lace, derived from the Italian
"punto," likewise used as a general term.
Rules for English nuns of 1210, in modernized form, direct the
nuns to "make no purses nor laz (lace), but shape and sew and mend
poor men's clothes and church clothes." This was evidently lace for
secular use; for^making lace for church purposes was another matter.
Special patterns for needlepoint and pillow lace date from the
early sixteenth century, when pattern books were first published.
Lace takes its particular name usually from the place where it
was made and where a special style was developed. So the museum
collection includes Point Argentan, Brussels tape and point, Point
d'Alencon, Honiton (an English establishment founded about 1568 by
Flemish refugees from the Alva persecutions), French applique, Eng-
lish thread, Spanish raised point, Milano, Gothique, Filet Veneziano,
Fiandra, Duchesse, Mechlin, Burano, Byzantine, Rococco, Rose Point,
Point d'Angleterre, Chantilly and so on.
The Kinsey collection, presented by Mrs. M. A. Bates in memory
of her mother, Mrs. Isabel Rogers Kinsey, and son, Griffith Kinsey,
contains some fine specimens of Flemish rose point and other types,
and a rarely beautiful lace over-jacket in fine tracery.
TEXTILE AND EMBROIDERIES GALLERY 71
Romance has always surrounded the fan, and perhaps no exhibits
in the museum are so touched with the charm of personality as the
fans exhibited in this room. Mr. de Young has long made a hobby
of fans, and some of his most wonderful specimens are here shown,
including a fan that was once the property of Marie Antoinette of
France.
Fans have been known from remote ages, probably from the time
that primitive man or woman discovered that a gently waved leaf would
mitigate the summer heats. Legend surrounds their invention, never-
theless; picturesque Oriental stories of the maiden Lam-si, who taught
the art of the fan to Chinese courtiers, and other tales. Ancient reliefs
of Egypt and other nations show figures carrying fans. They are
mentioned in the old Sanskrit writings of India and in the oldest
Oriental volumes.
In ancient times fans were not only devoted to their present use,
but served as standards. In China of the twelfth century B. C. they
were used as battle standards and a general commanding three army
corps carried a fan of white feathers. Fans were carried by Princes
and Generals in Egypt of the same period and round fans of peacock
feathers were popular forms.
Folding fans had their origin in Japan and were imported into
China, reversing the usual order of things. Legend says that the wings
of a bat suggested the principle.
In Italy of the eleventh and twelfth centuries fans were of feathers
or other materials, and their ivory and gold sticks were set with
precious stones. They were used by the ladies of Portugal in the
fourteenth century and were known in England and France about that
time, although they did not come into general use until Catherine de
Medici came to France from Italy and brought Italian customs with her.
The seventeenth century saw the beginning of the cult of the fan.
Fans were called the "screen of modesty," "useful zephyr" and other
poetic names. By the eighteenth century painters and other artists
began to devote their attention to fans. Louis XIV in 1678 gave per-
mission to a community of workmen to call themselves Master Fan-
makers, and about that time painting on silk was introduced.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the glory of the art.
fans were of ivory, tortoise shell, mother-of-pearl or other rich mate-
rials, carved with the delicacy of lace. Their mounts were of satin or
vellum, painted in water colors. Some of the most beautiful fans of
the period are of chicken skin, which possesses a texture especially well
adapted to painting.
Odd little fans perforated with many holes are said, by tradition,
to have been carried by court ladies going to the Porte St. Bernard for
air and incidentally to peep at the bathers.
Under Maintenon's austere rule, fans were smaller and less adapted
for purposes of flirtation, but under the Regency the fan resumed its
supremacy. Then it was written: "The most thoroughbred lady, one
made up of every grace, who is ignorant of the art of playing with this
pretty trinket, would meet with the ridicule of the world."
In the period of Louis XVI fans were painted after subjects by
Watteau, Lancret and other noted artists. Fans "en vernis Martin,"
which were greatly prized, were treated with the delicate varnish in-
vented by Martin, a carriage painter (c. 1475) . This compound was
especially adapted for fixing delicate paintings, and fans signed "vernis
par Martin," are even more valued than those signed with the name
of the artist.
72 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
During the Revolution fans ornamented with cockades or decorated
In the tricolor served as badges for the women adherents of the cause.
Under the Directoire, fans were often of crepe and spangled in
elaborate designs. The First Empire brought the tiny fans shown in
Recamier and similar portraits. Anagrammatic fans in which the sticks
bore letters and could be transposed or shifted to form different words
came with the Restoration/ Verses were often inscribed on fans.
In the early years of the nineteenth century, dandies carried fans
for a brief period, but soon went back to canes.
Later years saw a revival of the Louis XVI fan making, with
good imitations.
The de Young fans are placed in two large floor cases. They In-
clude beautiful and very valuable old French specimens, with sticks of
wonderfully carved ivory, as fine and delicate as lace. Odd-shaped
feather fans are included.
Marie Antoinette's fan is placed in a case near the door where
there are other specimens, including a magnificent fan of black
Chantilly lace.
Other fans, given by Miss Spooner, Mrs. Morton Mitchell and other
lonors, complete the display. Every fan in the gallery is worth individual
study for its beauty of design, delicacy of material and graceful shape.
Oriental textiles are placed in an adjoining gallery, making a display
that is almost dazzlingly brilliant in color. In the center of the room
stands a Chinese bridal chair, upholstered in heavy crimson and gold
brocade. In such a chair the Chinese bride, hidden from the world,
rides to the home of her husband, whom she has probably never seen.
This gallery also holds the alabaster model of the Taj Mahal, the
wonderful Indian palace tomb built by Shah Jehan in the early nine-
teenth century for his favorite wife. The cost of the original was
estimated at $20,000,000, and before it was despoiled, the marble walls
with their delicate tracery of carving held rare jewels. The Taj Mahal
is at Agra, India, and is 186 feet square and 220 feet from base to dome.
A unique exhibit is the collection of Japanese dolls, presented by
the Japanese commission to the Panama-Pacific Exposition and illus-
trating Japanese historical costume. The dolls are such as are used in
the Hina Matsuri, or doll festival, which occurs yearly on March 3.
This is the day when the small girl of a Japanese family is its most
important member. Booths are built with shelves for the dolls, which
are arranged in regular order, emperor and empress and court nobles
on the top shelf, with the lower shelves kept for play dolls of everyday
use. Refreshments are prepared on miniature dishes and served to
the dolls. The teaching of the day is "reverence and respect for parents
and the sanctity of the home."
The museum collection, arranged on the traditional shelves covered
with vivid red silk, forms a historical group. The central figure is an
empress, who, at the death of her husband, went to the head of his
army in Korea. She was accompanied by the warrior, Watanabe-no-
Tsuna, and an array of Generals. Her child she left in the care of an
old man, aged 1000 years, who was probably considered to have accu-
mulated sufficent wisdom in that time to attend to the needs of the
royal infant.
The group, costumed in the elaborate style of the legendary period,
includes the Emperor and Empress in their coronation robes, attended
by the Ministers Sadaijin and Udaijin; three maids of honor, five
musicians, the Emperor's banner and shoe bearers, an ox cart and an
old man and woman, supposed to have lived together for uniold ages
73
and signifying old age and happiness. The fan which the Empress
holds was to be used as a signal in battle.
Other dolls in the same display illustrate costumes of a later period,
about 1770.
Chinese embroideries of rare beauty are shown in this collection.
Mandarin coats are embroidered in solid masses of silk and gold. Rich
brocades are used to drape the backgrounds of the cases, and rare
shawls, fans, scarfs, panels and other pieces are sjiown.
Among the kimonos is a bridal costume of the early eighteenth
century of white brocade, with a rich floral design. There is also a
magnificent kimono of shaded gray, lined and wadded with burnt
orange and embroidered with an elaborate design of flowers and pea-
cocks, as well as a beautiful midnight blue costume, embroidered with
flowers and lined with orange.
Turkish and Persian embroideries are represented by scarfs, table
covers and other pieces, heavily embroidered in gold threads and silk.
There is a beautiful door panel, designed to be hung to cover the door
casing, that is richly adorned.
From India came the display of shawls of cashmere and embroid-
ered specimens, such as the shawl that is solidly embroidered in deep
wine shades and blue, with figures of men and birds. Jeypore caps,
scarfs, dresses, drapes and tapestries complete this collection.
Arabian and Egyptian work is shown in saddle trimmings, heavily
fringed, used by the Arabs; embroidered banners showing the per-
sistence of the ancient design; bits of costume, scarfs and veils. Among
the interesting pieces are the aba and kaffiyeh, native cloak-like
garments, worn by Ferdinand de Lesseps at the opening of the Suez
canal, November 6, 1869, and presented to Mrs. Washington Ryer, the
only American woman to make the trip through the canal at that time.
Dervish infantry uniforms, or, rather, portions of uniforms, show
gaudy red and blue squares.
Statuary Hall
«
A Gallery Spacious in Extent Filled With Specimens of the
Sculptors' Art — Original Statues in Marble and Bronze
and Reproductions in Plaster — the Great Dore Vase-
Storey's Statue of King Saul — the Merope of Rogers — Re-
productions of Antique Roman Busts — Well Filled
Annexes.
Perhaps in no class of exhibit does the Memorial Museum possess
a more representative collection than in examples of the sculptor's
art. Statuary Hall, with its spacious extent of 140 by 48 feet, is filled
with marbles and bronzes that, with very few exceptions, are of high
artistic value. A gallery is devoted to plaster reproductions of the
work of ancient Greek sculptors, and in several of the art galleries are
found excellent bronzes, classic reproductions and modern conceptions.
The student of these matters may, indeed, extend his investiga-
tions into other exhibits in the museum. The Oriental gallery furnishes
examples of Japanese and Chinese wood carving and modeling; there
is a splendid collection of the crudely hewn stone idols of the ancient
Aztecs, and many other galleries contain bits of modeling or carving.
The greater part of the sculpture is placed in Statuary Hall, for
several years the main entrance to the museum. Here are the par-
ticular treasures of the exhibit; the Dore vase, said to be the largest
and finest example of modern bronze casting in the world and a master-
piece of art; the magnificent "King Saul" of W. W. Storey, and another
Storey example, the splendidly powerful figure of "Delilah": Randolph
Rogers' "Merope," a very beautiful conception, and Andreoni's "Eve."
Standing in the center of the hall, the Dore vase instantly at-
tracts the eye by its very massiveness and impressive size. Some ten
feet in height and weighing about 6000 pounds, this enormous bronze
vase is at once a single artistic conception and a mass of careful
detail that repays the closest study.
Gustave Dore sought to typify "The Vintage" when he designed his
great vase. It is the story of the vine, from the base, where quaint
little Cupids battle with the insects that would destroy the vine, up
through the full luxuriance of rich fruit and swaying tendrils to
the topmost group of Cupids eagerly squeezing* the juice from the
ripe grapes. The massive nature of the design takes on new em-
phasis when it is realized that in the groups about the base are four-
teen plump little Cupids and half a dozen insect foes; on the body
of the vase among the tendrils of the vine, thirty-six Cupids, seven
Bacchantes, four Satyrs and old Silenus himself; and perched about
the topmost rim eight more Cupids. And the tremendous task under-
taken by Dore is appreciated in the study of the individuality of these
figures. Each one, from the tiniest Cupid to the jovial Silenus, was
separately modeled, then placed in position on the vase and neces-
STATUARY HALL 75
sary adjustments of pose made to build it into the complete compo-
sition without losing its individual appeal.
From six different points of view the Dore vase presents a satis-
fying and harmonious picture. This is accomplished by festooning
the heavily laden vine in three huge loops about the body of the vase,
with a group of figures placed in each loop and at each point of
attachment. One loop holds Silenus and the Cupids who make merry
with him; one has the lazily graceful figure of a Bacchante, one arm
outstretched to hold a roguish Cupid up where he can squeeze a ripe
grape cluster into his cup; one holds a Bacchante with a sly little
Cupid nestling close to her ear to whisper secrets. At the point of
attachment are other groups — one a Satyr, evidently overcome by
wine and helplessly defending himself against the merry assault of a
band of Cupids and Bacchantes; one a Bacchante with upheld cup,
and one a Satyr who has seized a Bacchante and is carying his prize
away through a rout of Cupids.'
Entwined about the entire vase is the symbolic vine, hung thickly
with clusters of grapes, and every cluster and every leaf an individual
study in modeling and composition. The wee Cupids at the base fight
valiantly against an army of spiders, snakes and insect enemies
almost as large as themselves, and at the top perch more Cupids,
peering eagerly into the depths of the vase. Each figure is complete
in its design and individual humor — the tiny Cupid who has lost his
balance and is slipping off the vase, quite obviously shrieking for help;
the Cupid who sits with both arms clutching an enormous fly; the
impetuous Satyr and his not unwilling prize; Silenus, old and fat;
the slim Bacchantes and all the rest.
The Dore vase has a romantic history. Several months of the
sculptor's time went into the modeling of the original. Then he
contracted with Thiebaut Brothers, a famous bronze foundry of Franc*,
for a casting. It was duly made, but Dore, with traditional artistic
improvidence, had not considered how he might pay for it, the bill
reaching a total of some 60,000 francs.
Left with the vase on their handr the foundry owners sent it to
the United States to be exhibited ax the Columbian Exposition in
Chicago, hoping to recoup themselves for their expenditures by
charging admission to see the vase. Through the influence of Mr. de
Young, the vase was sent to the Midwinter Fair in San Francisco, and,
like so many of the treasures of that exposition, found its final
resting place in the museum. The story of its final purchase is a
romance in itself; a story of offers made and rejected, of the desire
of the foundry owners to hold out for a higher price, and at last
of the conquering effect of 50,000 francs in actual cash spread before
the eyes of the French owners of the vase. In this way it happened
that the Memorial Museum became, for the comparatively small sum
of about $10,000, the possessor of an art treasure that is now valued
in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So far as is known, this is the only copy of the Dore vase in
existence. In the process of casting the original model was destroyed.
For some time, the story went, another model, perhaps the first clay
study, was in Rheims, but whatever this model may have been, it was
destroyed in the German advance, and San Francisco now owns the
only existing example of the famous vase.
At the Midwinter Exposition the vase was exhibited by the French
foundry authorities; after its purchase for the museum it stood out-
76 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
side the door of the original unit for years until its proper setting
was found in Statuary Hall.
Next to the Dore vase the greatest treasure of the statuary ex-
hibit is the magnificent marble figure of "King Saul," the work of
W. W. Storey, recognized as one of the foremost figures in American
sculpture. The presence of this splendid work of art in the museum is
due to the generosity of Mr. de Young. The statue originally cost
$12,500, and its value is now placed at $250,000.
King Saul is represented as a man of advancing years, with
long beard and features molded into superb strength. He is seated
on a throne chair of simple design, its low back modeled in relief.
The King's left hand is clenched in his beard; the right rests on the
ball of his scepter. The left foot is pushed far forward, the knees
drop apart, and the head is bent and slightly turned to the right. It
is a pose of utter simplicity but of magnificent power; the relaxation
of the body is that of intense thought, a relaxation with an unconscious
tenseness apparent in every line. The right hand, resting on the
scepter, holds the ball with an unrealized force; the veins stand out
on the back of the clutching left hand. There is a splendid firmness
about the flesh of hands, arms and face, and through the heavy robe
that drapes the figure one receives the suggestion of powerful muscles.
The carving of the drapery is strongly simple. A fringe at the
bottom of the robe and a heavy jeweled belt are the only decorations
that break the smooth sweep of the drapery. Between the knees the
robe sags apparently of its own weight, and the fringe lies on the
floor about the King's feet with a suggestion of actual substance.
The simplicity of the general design is extended to the face. Saul's
thoughts are moving in deep waters, in dark places. He is brooding
and stern, majestic and sorrowful — and all this the sculptor has in-
dicated by the force of modeling rather than by exaggerated facial
expression, supplemented by the expressive modeling of the hands.
Another fine example of Storey's work, also illustrating his strength
in the use of powerful and simple lines and broad composition, is
"Delilah," a marble figure slightly larger than life size, which was
bought for the museum by Mr. de Young for $7500.
The figure is that of a woman standing with her left foot
slightly advanced and her right hand raised to hold the heavy drapery
that falls from waist to feet. The upper half of the body is nude;
the only decoration is the necklet of barbaric design and the circlet
that holds the flowing hair in place.
The strength of the figure lies principally in the great sweep
of line from the head to the end of the drapery that lies upon the
ground behind, the fine balance of the pose and the firmness of the
flesh with its suggestion of hidden muscular strength. Weakness of
body or spirit is far from this woman, who combines the allure of her
beauty with a cold determination that would drive her steadfastly
toward her goal.
Two very different feminine types are the "Eve" of Andreoni and
Randolph Rogers' lovely "Merope." Where "Delilah" has strength and
purposeful vigor, these have yielded charm and wistfulness.
"Eve" is a nude figure, seated on a rock with the left foot drawn
and raised and the left knee sharply bent. In her upraised right
hand she holds the apple, which she regards with a gentle curiosity
rather than eagerness. Her hair is loose and flowing. About the
rock on which she sits and about the base of the composition twines
the serpent among flowers. Andreoni has portrayed a highly idealized
STATUARY HALL 77
Eve in the almost sentimental contours of her face. The flesh model-
ing suggests softness; an interesting contrast to the force of the
"Delilah." From the same medium of marble one sculptor has made
a texture of firmness and solidity, while the other has hinted at
yielding plasticity.
In beauty of composition and successful solving of an exceed-
ingly difficult sculptural problem, "Merope" is foremost. Rogers
chose for his subject the lovely figure of the Lost Pleiad, cast out of
heaven because of her love for a mortal and forever drifting through
houseless space in search of her lost love and her lost sisters. The
figure of Merope is poised in flight, the beautiful curve of the body and
the fluttering draperies about the feet filled with the suggestion of
rapid motion. The upper half of Merope's body is swung to the left,
her left hand raised to shade her eyes that look out on the vastness
of space with an expression of terror and wistfulness. Heavy drapery
is brought from the right shoulder around the waist, covering the lower
half of the body with thick folds that float behind the figure with a
suggestion of sweeping motion. An especially notable element in this
figure is the splendid balance of the composition. There is no arti-
ficial support for the outflung arms and shoulders, as so frequently
occurs in a pose of this nature, the weight of the draperies about the
feet serving to balance the figure.
The statue of "Merope" is valued at $10,500.
Four interesting bronze groups are reproductions of the famous
Versailles fountain groups, representing the four elements. Each
composition includes three chubby children, standing back to back so
that the group is complete from whatever angle it is viewed. Lespig-
nola, the sculptor, has avoided abrupt changes of subject by the skill-
ful use of directing lines; an upraised arm leads naturally to the
pose of the next figure, or a wreath flung over a plump shoulder
carries the line around the group.
The Roman busts, the purchase of which formed Mr. de Young's
introduction to Paris auction rooms, stand in this gallery. They
represent five Roman Emperors — Hadrian, Augustus Caesar, Nero,
Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus Pius, all in white and veined marble,
and a Homer in black marble. All are excellent types of portrait
sculpture, massive and effective.
An unusually interesting piece, both from subject and medium, is
the black basalt figure of a negro slave, an Italian example of six-
teenth century work. Black basalt, distinguished from the darker
shade of marble by a difference in texture, takes an extremely high
polish and is most effective in sculpture, although seldom used. The
composition shows the upper half of the figure, rising from a pillar.
The arms are behind the body, evidently bound there; the shoulders
are raised and pushed forward and the head is sunk back on the
heavy neck. There is a sense of strain and heave about the writhing
shoulders and of muscular tension in the lines of the neck and head
that is excellent.
"Love and the Dolphin," a reproduction of an antique original
found at Capua, Italy, is a curiously interesting composition. An
enormous dolphin rests its head with huge open mouth on the ground,
its body thrust upward and twined twice about the slim young body of
Love, whose arms embrace the dolphin's head and whose feet pro-
trude from the coils of the dolphin. During the Panama-Pacific Ex-
position this piece stood in the exposition grounds, and exposure to
78 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
the weather gave it the beautiful green patina or satiny finish that
is now its striking characteristic.
Two very lovely marble heads contrast Italian and American work;
"Inspiration," by Giuseppe Bessi, and Hiram Powers' classic "Califor-
nia." The former is an example of the combination of marbles, an
alabaster white for the face and a delicately brown-veined marble
for the drapery. "California" is a type of the utmost classic sim-
plicity, a face of purity and sweetness, with the hair caught in a knot.
The lines of the neck and cheek are exceptionally lovely.
Raffaello Romanelli is represented by two marble figures, "Jeanne
d'Arc" and "Cleopatra." The pose of the two statues is very similar;
standing, with head and shoulders thrown back and body slightly
turned, "Jeanne d'Arc" is pictured in full armor, holding her sword
and gazing upward with a rapt expression. "Cleopatra" holds the
asp in both hands, applying it to her left breast. She wears a heavily
draped costume with elaborately barbaric girdle.
Several famous antiques are represented by excellent bronze re-
productions, some done by Chiurazzi of Naples, whose work is well
known. Among these are the two Centaurs, the Elder and the
Younger. The originals stand in the Capitoline at Rome. The Elder
Centaur has swung his body sharply to the right and his right hand
is clenched behind his back. The Younger Centaur faces straight for-
ward and his right arm is upraised. Both are very spirited and ani-
mated figures.
The Louvre Jason is shown in an excellent bronze reproduction of
the familiar figure of the youth standing with his right foot raised
on a rock, his hands at the fastening of his sandal. Another widely
known antique, here in reproduction, is the Discobolus.
The Farnese Homer is reproduced in Carrara marble, and there
is a bronze reproduction of the Flying Mercury, the original of which
is in the Bargello, Florence.
A figure that invariably attracts attention is the heroic bronze
reproduction of the Dancing Faun of the Borghese galleries, Rome.
This spirited statue has caught the Faun in a moment of his dance
when he has paused in the step to swing his cymbals before him.
The left leg is advanced and the right foot raised lightly on the toe,
while the body is swung sharply to the left and the hands, holding
the cymbals, are raised.
A small bronze is the reproduction of "Venus with the Sword of
Mars," the original being in the Uffizi galleries at Florence. Venus
stands beside a tall vase, holding the sword in her left hand, while
her right hand is raised to catch the drapery at her shoulder.
An unusual piece is the bronze reproduction of the memorial bronze
to Elizabeth Boott Duveneck, whose tomb is in the cemetery at Florence,
Italy. The figure of a woman in simple draperies lies at full length on
the slab of the tomb, carved in half-relief.
"Vanity" is a graceful little marble, a female figure holding a
mirror, the other hand raised to her hair.
Two heroic marbles are the statues of Lincoln and Washington
by P. Bianco. Lincoln is shown standing with the left foot slightly Ad-
vanced and a pile of books at his feet to give firmness. His right
hand and arm are advanced in the gesture of a speech, and his left
hand is thrust carelessly in the pocket of his trousers, pushing the
coat back in rumpled folds. There is an effectively quiet dignity
about the figure, an easy handling of line and careful attention to
details of clothing.
STATUARY HALL 79
The Washington statue is planned in a somewhat similar pose,
showing Washington in uniform and hatless, wearing a sword. The
right hand is raised and caught' in the buttons of the coat.
Another Lincoln memorial is the small marble representing "The
Emancipation Proclamation," representing Lincoln with a negro slave
kneeling at his feet, freed from shackles. T. Ball is the sculptor.
"Flora" is a large marble, the nude figure of a woman standing
beside a pillar over which flowers twine, a spray flung about her body
and flowers in her upraised right hand.
Mary Garden posed for the figure of "Salome" by G. Ganboge, a
marble of considerable detail. Salome is shown leaning easily back
against a wall of veined marble. Her skirt drapery falls away from
her advanced right knee, and she wears a heavy girdle and breast
jewels. Her right hand is raised to her breast and the left rests very
firmly on the wall. She wears a curious headdress of curls and
feathers.
Two odd little busts are "Hopi Man" and "Hopi Girl," by J. J.
Mora, heads that show the characteristic Indian features and the
whorls of hair worn by the woman.
"Apollo and Daphne" is a small marble by Romanelli after the
original by Bernini in the Borghese, Rome. It shows Daphne at the
moment of her transformation into a bay tree, the bark beginning to
rise about her legs. Appollo, pursuing, is at her shoulder.
Historical interest attaches to the small statue of "The Mahdi,"
bronze with gilt, for it was presented to Marshal Canrobert after his
return from service in the Orient during the reign of Napoleon III,
Henri Pie is the sculptor.
Smaller pieces include Haig Patigian's bust of John M. Keith;
"Young Man Praying," a reproduction in bronze of a Berlin original;
"The Rape of Polyxena," a bronze group, a reproduction of the orig-
inal in Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence; "Cleopatra," a marble bust by C.
del Sarta; a Chiurazzi bronze reproduction of the Donatello "David"
in the National Museum at Florence; "Rebecca at the Well," a marble
group that was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1910; "Hymn," a
small marble, the kneeling figure of a young woman, by Alice Nordin
of Sweden, and Paul Troubetzkoy's interesting bronze bust of M. H.
de Young.
There are also in Statuary Hall two Corsinovi busts of Wallenstein
and his daughter, Sheika; A. Bortone's "Dancing Girl"; "Carmen," a
Bertini wood carving; "The Dancer," by C. Lapini of Florence;
"Drummer Boy," an elaborate wood carving by Massimiliano of Flor-
ence; "Bacchante," an effective marble bust; Angelo Bertozzi's small
marble, "Modesty"; "Rebecca," a small marble by Andreoni, a bust
of Sherman by Simmons and a number of smaller groups. '
An interesting group which stands in one of the halls of the old
unit is "The Strike," by a Japanese sculptor, Osao Watanabe of Tokio.
It is a most effective composition centering about the sturdy figure
of a Japanese workman, standing firmly balanced, with muscles tense
and hands clenched. To his left arm clings the drooping figure of a
Japanese woman, three children clustering about her. The group is
modeled in broad lines, angular and bold, with a suggestion of the
Rodin school in its handling.
Seven splendid bronzes that stand in the art galleries adjoining
Statuary Hall are the animal groups, six by Sirio Tofanari and one by
Vanetti. These are groups of the Barye type, although somewhat
heavier and rougher in their modeling, the figures often blended with
80 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
the supporting background. Particularly go'od in its sleek strength
is the "Leopard," which occupies the center of one of the smaller
galleries, a bronze some three feet in length, showing the animal in
the intensity of the hunt, the steel muscles drawn taut, ears laid back
and lips pulled away from the teeth in a snarl.
There are two groups of "Struggling Tigers," one by Tofanari and
one by Vanetti, portraying the tigers in the thick of combat, lithe
bodies flung into the fight, every muscle tense.
A larger group is "Lioness and Cubs," the lioness stretched at ease
and the cubs crowding to reach the mother.
"The Caress" is a notable group for its sense of deliberate, easy
motion. A lioness lies at full length*, head raised. Behind her moves
the lion, rubbing his head slowly along her shoulder. The easy lift
of the lion's great neck and forequarter muscles, and the slow stretch
of the extended hind leg, are vibrant with a sense of luxurious power.
Few artists have used camels for any other purpose than to give
the proper atmospheric touch to desert scenes, but Tofanari in his
camel group has found a new interest in these ungainly beasts. Like
"The Caress," the camel group portrays a moment of demonstration
when one of the animals, standing, has drooped his swaying neck to
place his head cheek to cheek with another camel, lying on the
ground. The rough modeling of the figures is particularly successful
in its suggestion of a camel's shaggy hide.
These animal bronzes, as well as the Borghese "Dancing Faun,"
the two "Discus Throwers," "Jason," the Farnese Homer and several
classic reproductions, first came to America at the time of the
Panama-Pacific Exposition, sent by the Italian Government for ex-
hibition at the Italian pavilion, from which they were bought by Mr.
de Young.
"The Troika," a Lanceray bronze, is a spirited group representing
a Russian sleigh ride. Three horses at full gallop draw the sledge,
and the two passengers, clinging to the sides of the sledge, indicate
the recklessness of the pace.
Two bronze gazelles are reproductions of the originals found at
Herculaneaum, near Pompeii, in 1765, and two bronze reproductions of
"The Runner," also discovered at Herculaneum, attract attention large-
ly through the realistic sculpture of the eyes, which are equipped with
rather startling pupils.
"L'Addio" is a graceful little bronze group by Vanetti, picturing
a Roman soldier in full armor bending from his horse to kiss a
woman who stands on tiptoe.
Thorvaldsen is represented by a bronze "Hebe," a figure of simple
and effective lines.
Three examples of Paul Troubetzkoy's bronzes are found in these
galleries. One, "Dante," is a curious conception in heavy pyramidical
lines. The base is a truncated pillar with sloping sides, at the summit
of which stands the poet, wrapped in a heavy robe, the angular lines
of which carry out the design of the base. Scenes in low relief adorn
the pillar, which has a flying figure about its top.
This gallery has a number of bronze reproductions of classic
heads, including the Verrochio "David" in the Florence National Mu-
seum, "Paris," "Venus," "Minerva" and two Michelangelo busts, the
Medici dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano, the originals of v/hich are in the
Church of San Lorenzo at Florence.
Eight busts of French historical characters, purchased by Mr. de
Young from the French pavilion at the Panama-Pacific Exposition,
STATUARY HALL 81
complete this exhibit. The busts represent Francois de la Mothe Fene-
lon, Pierre Corneille, Sebastian le Pretre de Vauban, Michel le Tellier,
Jean Baptiste Colbert, Maurice de Saxe, Jean Baptiste Racine and
Pierre Mignard.
A gallery recently installed that has attracted unusual attention
from its first day is that devoted to plaster casts, the principal ex-
hibit being the magnificent series of Indian figures by Dallin, famous
for his sculptures of Indians.
Cyrus Edward Dallin, the sculptor, was brought up in the Wasatch
mountains of Utah, and from boyhood knew the Indians of that region
in all the phases of their life. As a youth he worked in the mines at
Springfield, Utah, where he made his start as a sculptor in a manner
that is more like romance than sober fact.
The Springfield miners one day uncovered a vein of soft white
clay. Young Dallin, in whom artistic stirrings were making themselves
felt, experimented with the clay and modeled two heads. Local pride
sent the heads to Salt Lake City for display at a fair, and there they
were seen by two wealthy men who became interested in the boy
sculptor. Funds were raised to send Dallin to Boston, and there he
studied with Trueman Bartlett, making rapid progress in his work.
In 1888 he was awarded the gold medal of the American Art Associa-
tion at New York for his "Indian Hunter." Twenty-five examples of
his work were seen at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and many
Eastern museums are glad to own Dallin Indians.
Dallin has always chosen his subjects from the Indians he knew
so well, and years of study and experience fitted him to model the
Indians with perfect accuracy as well as the highest artistic appre-
ciation.
The fourteen examples in the Memorial Museum are arrangeu
in a manner that displays their beauty to the fullest advantage.
Filling one end of the small gallery, the group centers on "The
Supreme Appeal," a magnificent mounted figure, the original of which,
in bronze, is in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Two half-circles
of mounted and large standing figures radiate from the central point,
and the corners are balanced with groups of three figures each.
"The Supreme Appeal" pictures an Indian warrior in the moment
before battle, making his prayer to the Great Spirit. The superb
figure, clad only in breech-clout and sweeping war bonnet, is mounted
on an Indian pony, bareback and with only the primitive bridle ol
the plains rider. The warrior has thrown both arms wide and his
head is flung back in the ecstasy of the appeal. There is a magnificent
lift and poise to the figure and a splendid dignity that holds even the
most casual passer-by with its impressive strength.
Directly behind "The Supreme Appeal" is "The Medicine Man," a
mounted figure placed in profile. The medicine man, wearing a curious
headdress adorned with buffalo horns, holds his hand upraised with
an easy gesture.
In the first half-circle of supporting figures are "Chief Antelope,"
a warrior standing beside his pony, with one arm resting easily on
the pony's back; "Chief Washakie of the Shoshone Tribe," a strongly
dignified mounted figure in full war panoply, right hand raised in
salutation; "Cayuse at the Spring," a quietly pleasing group that
pictures a pony with head bent to drink and ridden by a young man,
behind whom clings a small boy; "On the Warpath," an alert and
vigorous figure of a young warrior with a single feather in his hair,
mounted and turned sharply to the left, his left hand raised to shield
his eyes as he peers back over the trail.
82 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Two mounted figures still farther back in the grouping are "Pretty
Eagle of the Crows," a warrior on his pony, holding a musket resting
against his body in an easy pose, and "The Scout," a sharp and alert
figure, gazing straight forward with hand raised to his eyes.
The corner groups, each including a large figure and two smaller
supporting ones, complete the display. On the left, the central figure
is "Indian Archer," a strong, easily posed figure with bow raised and
right hand drawn back on the bowstring. Flanking him are "Chief
Joseph of the Nez Perce Tribe," a dignified standing figure closely
folded in a blanket, and "Standing Elk," also in blanket and war bonnet.
The central figure of the right-hand group is the only woman of
the fourteen figures, "Sacajawea," the Indian woman who guided
Lewis and Clark on their Northwest expedition when other guides
refused to go. She is pictured as a young woman with papoose slung
on her back, wearing a long dress of deerskin. She is posed in the
act of walking, her right arm extended to point the trail and her body
swung in an easy step forward. The flanking figures of this group
are "Massasoit," wearing the blanket and holding a peace pipe resting
in the crook of his arm, and "The Peace Pipe," picturing an Indian of
dignified and friendly bearing, extending the pipe in greeting.
From these representatives of the New World the visitor is trans-
ported to the historic days of Europe by a glimpse of the plaster casts
that adorn the walls. Twenty-nine replicas of relief from the Alhambra
recall the art of the Moors. The collection includes capitals, rosettes,
panels and fragments, all showing the characteristic Moorish style in
construction and ornamentation.
Even those persons who have but a slight acquaintance with the
history of art have come to recognize a certain type of plaque,
modeled in relief, as a della Robbia. The della Robbia "bambini,''
chubby babies wrapped in swaddling clothes with their arms extended,
are copied in every medium. The Memorial Museum possesses some
exceptionally good plaster replicas of these plaques, reproductions of
originals by Lucca and Andrea della Robbia, Donatello, Benedetto de
Maiano, Settignano and Ghiberti.
The della Robbias were a famous family of artists in mediaeval
Florence. Lucca della Robbia, founder of the family, transmitted his
genius to sons and nephews, so that with many hands busy at the
task a vast quantity of work was turned out. Lucca della Robbia
is declared to be excelled, among sculptors of the period, only by
Donatello, and as a worker in plastic materials he is unsurpassed.
Impatient with the slowness of work in marble or bronze, della Robbia
set himself to invent a new method, and discovered the art of enameling
terra cotta. These enameled plaques were almost indestructible. The
terra cotta base gave them strength and the colors were permanent,
since they were put on under the protecting enamel. The design
was first executed in terra cotta and painted with fireproof colors.
This was covered with a coat of the hard smooth enamel invented by
della Robbia, and the whole was fired.
The museum examples of della Robbia work include replicas of
the famous bambini, plaques modeled with Scriptural subjects and
sections of the beautiful Cantoria frieze by Lucca della Robbia him-
self, the original of which is in the Museum of Santa Maria del Fiore,
Florence. This frieze is adorned with groups of singing boys and girls.
Donatello, who is also represented by replicas of some of his best
pieces, is regarded as the founder of modern sculpture and the artistic
progenitor of Michelangelo. As a youth he was trained in Florence to
the goldsmith's trade. With his friend, Brunellschi, young Donatello
STATUARY HALL 83
went to Rome. There the two boys worked as goldsmiths in the morn-
ing hours and in their leisure time studied the ancient sculpture,
digging among the Roman ruins, then still holding many of their
treasures, for more examples. When they returned to Florence, Dona-
tello took rank as the foremost sculptor of the age and Brunellschi
became equally famous as an architect.
Donatello revived the art of bronze casting, making in 1453 the
first bronze since ancient Roman days. With him began the artistic
renaissance that swept over Europe and produced the treasures of the
Middle Ages.
A further example of plaster replica are the five sections of a
frieze that was formerly in the Hotel de Bourgtheroulde, Rouen, and
is now in the Louvre. It represents the meeting of Henry VIII and
Francis I on the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold, and is a spirited
composition, crowded with armored knights on prancing horses, foot
soldiers, camp followers, noblemen and attendants, following the
two kings.
The Exhibit of Tapestries
A Sketch of the Art of Making Tapestries — Their Manu-
facture Promoted by States and Potentates. The
Gobelin — Aubusson — Renaissance Design.
Although the golden age of tapestry did not come until the early
years of the fifteenth century, the art is an exceedingly old one.
Ancient Egyptian and Coptic records give authority for the existence of
woven pictures as far back as the third century B. C. Fragments
of these antique tapestries exist in a few museums, but only frag-
ments, since in the warlike years of the first ten centuries of the
Christian era little heed was paid to the preservation of such easily
destroyed objects of art as tapestries, and only those pieces survived
which were fortunate enough to remain hidden in security.
It was largely due to the monasteries of these centuries that the
few examples of antique tapestry have come down to the present day.
Great lords and ladies of the time frequently made rich gifts to chosen
monasteries and nunneries, among these gifts richly woven hangings
to cover the harsh stone walls. In the comparative security of the
monasteries, almost the only places which were reasonably free from
the destruction wrought by mediaeval conquerors, the tapestries and
other objects of art rested safely.
Tapestry has been defined as a picture cloth in which the design
is an integral part of the fabric; in other words, woven, and not
embroidered. The Bayeux Tapestry, so-called, which pictures the ex-
ploits of William the Conqueror, is embroidered, and therefore not
tapestry, strictly speaking.
Two classifications of tapestry were made by the French artists
who wrought in the fifteenth century — "tapisserie de verdure," or
tapestry in which the design was of flowers or landscapes, and "tapis-
serie des personnages," which pictured scenes involving human beings.
Two other general classifications of tapestry are familiar to the stu-
dent— high-warp and low-warp, referring to the manner of weaving,
and Gothic and Renaissance, referring to the style of design.
All tapestry is woven on the same general system, by the pass-
ing back and forth of shuttles filled with colored threads. The high-
warp tapestry is woven on a loom on which the fabric stands perpen-
dicularly; low-warp tapestry on a loom on which the fabric lies horizon-
tally before the weaver. The best of the Gothic tapestry was woven on
high-warp looms.
The tapestry weaver works with the back of his completed piece
before him. The right side of the tapestry is not visible; he guides
his shuttles by a pattern, working always on. the wrong side.
Of recent years the weaving of tapestry has once more been taken
up as a means of artistic expression, and some very beautiful and
well-made pieces have been the result. It is a revival from the de-
generation into which the art fell after the early years of the nine-
teenth century and the late eighteenth century, when ths weavers who
once made great hangings of splendid artistic value cheapened their
art by applying it to chair covers, cushions and articles of daily use.
THE EXHIBIT OF TAPESTRIES 85
The first tapestry factory on record was established at Poitiers
about 1025. In the years that followed, the Crusades brought to Europe
not only a craze for Oriental design but a desire for the luxurious
furnishings of the Orient. The Crusaders found the cities of the East
filled with objects of art, including rich embroideries and tapestries,
and the trophies they brought home stimulated the art of Europe.
With the lessening of constant warfare over Europe that marked
the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century, the "infant industry"
of tapestry weaving took on new strength. Noblemen, turning from
battle, took thought for the adornment of their castles. The rough
stone walls of their castle galleries and halls were displeasing to their
newly acquired taste for the beautiful; they began to discover that
the harshness could be softened by textile hangings, and orders began
to pour in to the tapestry weavers.
If the thirteenth century saw the beginnings of tapestry weaving
on a permanent basis, the fourteenth century marked the beginning
of established factories, and the' fifteenth brought the full flower of
the Gothic style.
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Arras and Paris
were the centers of tapestry weaving. Arras, indeed, was so definitely
recognized as a tapestry center that the name of the city was applied
to the fabric and the hangings that covered the castle walls in the
Middle Ages are again and again referred to as the arras. Polonius
hides "behind the arras," where Hamlet's sword finds him.
Tapestry weaving in Paris suffered an eclipse when Henry V of
England occupied the city in 1422 and did not revive until the time
of Henri IV (circa 1600), when there were five factories in prosperous
condition. Arras maintained her lead under the patronage of the
Dukes of Burgundy until 1477, when Louis XI conquered the city
after the death of Charles the Bold. This gave Brussels, Liege,
Bruges and other cities their opportunity as the guild of weaver's
scattered to seek safety elsewhere, so that by the sixteenth century
the industry was widespread.
Tapestries of the Middle Ages were not spread flat on walls, pro-
tected by glass and frames, as they are today. They were objects as
much of use as adornment; they served as gifts exchanged between
rulers and diplomats; they were called into service when ambassadors
met to frame treaties and it became necessary to provide suitably
elaborate surroundings for these important personages; they were used
to decorate cities for royal entries. Many a meeting of diplomats
to make formal end of a war was held in a tent or the otherwise rude
surroundings of a poor room made beautiful with hangings of tapestry.
It is recorded that on the occasion of the entry of a queen into Paris
the streets from the Porte St. Denis to Notre Dame were hung with
tapestries, suspended from the balconies of the houses to make a way
of beauty for the royal lady. Many a noble traveling about the country
had in his train a sumpter mule laden with tapestries and whenever
he paused for no matter how brief a stay at castle or fortress his
apartments were hung with his own tapestries.
The tapestry weavers of the fifteenth century were true craftsmen.
They were not so much workmen as artists, able to create their own
designs as well as execute them. The weaver of Arras was usually a
member of the guild, an organization with rigid rules and require-
ments. Severe penalties were inflicted for misuse of the art. No piece
of tapestry could be sold until it had been examined, approved and
sealed. Misuse of labels meant the loss of the weaver's right hand.
While the weaver was permitted to introduce additional decorations
86 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
or to adapt designs, within certain limits, a professional artist must
be engaged to furnish the original cartoon or the weaver was subject
to heavy fine.
Tapestries were customarily marked with the names of the town,
factory and, frequently, the weaver. In 1528 an edict .provided that
Brussels tapestries more than six ells long must bear in their margin
the name of the maker and the official designation of Brussels work —
two capital Bs flanking a shield.
The Gothic tapestries of the fifteenth century are declared to be the
most beautiful of all. The earlier artists wove designs of quaint fancy,
suggestive of fairy legend. The figures were dignified and the faces
serious. There was no perspective, but a naive mingling of foreground
and distance that lends a quaint charm to these early examples.
A forsaken maiden leans from the turret of a castle half her own
height; men and horses of impossible anatomy fight battles of im-
possible complications. The beauty of these old tapestries is very
largely in their naive ignoring of the principles of drawing, their
clear, simple color and their unconscious dignity.
Later Gothic tapestries show increasing elaboration. Instead of
the single pictures of earlier days several scenes appear on one
tapestry, sometimes separated by columns. This architectural motif
is an aid in identification; a tapestry with Gothic arches is evidently
of the earlier period before the Renaissance introduced classic forms.
A characteristic feature of the Gothic style is the constant pres-
ence of flowers. The heroes and heroines of Gothic tapestries invari-
ably stand in meadows sown thick with quaint little blossoms; flowers
even grow in battle-fields. These flowers are always small and
delicate; it remained for the Renaissance to introduce huge blossoms
and heavy designs.
Borders on tapestries originated with the weaving of a plain edge
to receive the hooks on which they were hung. This edge was un-
adorned until some mediaeval weaver tried the experiment of letting
the flowers of his design spill over into the border. The effect was
pleasing and borders gradually grew more elaborate, until they were
made wide and heavy, as elaborate in design as the main picture.
In 1515 the Brussels factories received an order from Rome that
was to be the turning point of the industry. Pope Leo ordered the
weaving of the tapestries picturing the Acts of the Apostles to be
placed in the Sistine chapel. The cartoons or pictures were done by
Raphael, Peter van Aelst was the weaver, and the work took some
four years, Pope Leo paying the equivalent of $130,000 for the set.
With these Raphael cartoons the influence of the Italian Renais-
sance entered France and Flanders. By contrast with Gothic art, the
art of the Renaissance was heavy and voluptuous. Instead of the quaint,
somewhat crowded scenes of earlier days, the cartoons showed few fig-
ures, freer drawing and more colors. The style of the Italians, excel-
lently adapted for painting, was not suited to the delicate art of the
weaver, and tapestry making suffered thereby.
Moreover, the Flemish artists attempted to imitate the Italians,
and, failing to grasp their spirit, copied only the grossness of the
Renaissance style, exaggerating it into looseness. Although the great-
est artists of the period — Raphael, Titan, Andrea del Sarto, Veronese,
Paolo Romano and others — drew tapestry cartoons, their failure to
grasp the peculiar requirements of the art and the failure of their
Flemish imitators to recognize the real quality of the Italians, led to a
thorough misunderstanding that was the death knell of art in tapestry,
in spite of the fact that it was to flourish for many years.
Fourteenth century French shrine, in deeply carved wood, ornamented with gold
and color work. Gallery of Religious Exhibits.
THE EXHIBIT OF TAPESTRIES 87
Another source of danger lay in the fact that where the fifteenth
century weaver had been permitted to exercise his own fancy in details
of the design the Renaissance artists insisted that their cartoons be
copied without deviation. Hence it was not necessary for a weaver
to be an artist; an experienced workman was sufficient, and inevitably
the work began to deteriorate.
The third and perhaps the greatest factor in the downfall of the
art was the introduction of additional colors. The workmen of Arras
manufactured their own dyes of a purity and strength that has kept
them bright and unfaded to the present. They used no more than
twenty colors, but all good. By the time the Gobelin factories were
established in 1662 no fewer than 20,000 tints were used, and little
care was given to their permanence.
The increasing demand for tapestries proved the final blow. Just
as the art of Oriental porcelain making deteriorated with the growing
Western demand, the tapestry factories rushed their work, paid small
attention to detail and little to quality. By 1775 the Aubusson weavers
themselves admitted that their work was coarse and poor. Large
tapestries were made in sections and sewed together and the art fell
so low that portions of a tapestry in which the woven color was poor,
were tinted with colors that soon faded. At last tapestry weaving
on miniature looms became a fad of the nobility, and even a King
of France had his little loom with which he toyed idly in his leisure
hours.
Francis I of France established the first royal tapestry factory in
that country, a short-lived affair, located at Fontainebleau. The
industry was sporadic until the beginning of the seventeenth century,
when royal patronage was again extended. Louis XIV in 1667, under
the advice of Colbert, established the Gobelin factory and tapestry
making at once became a leading industry.
The original Gobelins, Jean and Philibert, were merchant dyers in
scarlet, who, at the end of the fifteenth century had their atelier on
the banks of the Bievre, a stream in the Faubourg St. Marcel, Paris,
whose waters were particularly well adapted to their secret processes
of dyeing. In 1601 Marc Comans and Francois de la Planche, Flemish
weavers, installed their shops on the banks of the Bievre, a district
to which the Gobelins had already given their name. In September,
1667, the minister, Colbert, to whom so much of the artistic glory of
the Louis XIV period is due, established in the buildings of the
Gobelins a royal manufactory of furniture, metal work, tapestries and
other articles for use in the palace.
Louis XIV was extremely generous to artists, and with their
market assured, the Gobelin weavers made rapid progress. It lasted
for only a brief period, however, since by 1688 other demands on the
royal treasury cut down the appropriations for the factory. After a
period of inactivity (1694-1697) the factory was reopened, peace having
been made with Holland, and under the regency of Philippe d'Orleans
and the later reign of Louis XV the artists had their way. Then it was
that attempts were made to substitute tapestry for painting; portraits
were woven, unimportant designs used, and the art followed the trend
of the age, reaching its height urder Louis XVI, of smallness and
perfection of detail. Incidentally the fact that the palaces of the
seventeenth century had much smaller rooms than the great halls of
the mediaeval castles had its influence on the size of the tapestries.
The history of the times and the spirit of the court are reflected
in the tapestries. The gay reign of La Pompadour and the austere
rule of Mme. de Maintenon had their effect. The latter is said once
88 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
to have manifested her somewhat prudish nicety by insisting that
garments be woven and patched into tapestries portraying classical
subjects, that the scantily clothed figures of nymphs and dryads might
be properly garbed; a demand that would qualify Maintenon for
membership on the Board of Censors of the period.
.After the period of Louis XVI another blow fell upon the art of
tapestry weaving. Already it had degenerated into the manufacture
of chair covers and futile little decorations; the leaders of the Revolu-
tion, regarding tapestry as abhorrent because it had been patronized
by royalty, destroyed quantities of pieces and put an end to the manu-
facture. Under the Directoire tapestries were burned for the gold and
silver in their threads. Only 100 workmen were left at the Gobelin
factories, where there had been nearly a thousand. The Revolutionary
censors were exceedingly strict; any subject that could remotely sug-
gest royalty was banned. Tapestry weavers were confined to harmless
flowers and classical subjects.
Napoleon patronized the Gobelin factories, but insisted on taking
them under his personal control. He exercised strict supervision over
the work; no design might be woven without his approval, and he kept
the workmen busy weaving portraits of himself and his favorites.
Tapestry weaving became merely the task of copying paintings.
So the art remained at its lowest ebb, until the modern era brought
new life. The nineteenth century saw the old factories re-established
and the work started anew under the direction of capable artists.
Modern tapestries, woven according to the best methods of the past
and picturing designs made especially to be woven, are as beautiful
in their way as were the fifteenth century masterpieces.
Although the Gobelin factory was the principal French establish-
ment, other factories did important work. The Beauvais tapestries
are from a factory founded by the Indefatigable Colbert in 1664 and
conducted less as an artistic center than as a commercial enterprise.
Oudry, the principal artist of the Beauvais works, was known for his
animal paintings, and consequently the Beauvais tapestries frequently
portray dogs, horses, cats, birds or other living ceatures. This factory
was also known for the sets of tapestried furniture it turned out.
The Aubusson establishment goes back to early years when the
Saracens of the time of Charles Martel in 732, scattering from the de-
feated invading forces, settled at Aubusson and began to practice their
Oriental art of weaving. There was no factory, of course, until later
years, but by the time of Louis XIV the work was established. Louis
XIV, with his characteristic royal prodigality of promises, assured the
Aubusson workers that he would patronize the works and send artists
to assist them, but he failed to carry out his promises and the factory
lost ground. The Edict of Nantes (1685) deprived the establishment of
its Protestant workers, including some of its best artists, and it lan-
guished until the eighteenth century, when its new growth, lasting
until the present day, began.
The best-known English establishment was Mortlake, in London,
dating back to James I and patronized liberally by Charles I.
In Italy, tapestry making was almost altogether under the pat-
ronage of the great families, and rose or fell with their prosperity or
downfall.
The Memorial Museum contains a number of examples of tapestry,
principally of the later periods. They are hung in Statuary Hall.
The best piece in the collection is "After the Victory," a large
tapestry of the best Brussels period. This fifteenth century piece
THE EXHIBIT OF TAPESTRIES 89
shows the characteristics of the superb Gothic work, the freshness
of color, minute detail of composition, spirited action, wealth of
flowers and elaborate border. Its superiority to pieces of later date
in the museum collection is easy to distinguish.
"After the Victory" represents a King, seated under a canopy
and surrounded by his court, receiving the news of the battle from
warriors and messengers. The figures, while crude as to drawing,
are spirited and distinctive, and the strong reds and blues of the
coloring are as fresh today as when, 500 years ago, the weavers of
Brussels dyed the threads. The intricate mingling of groups in the
middle distance, the architectural details of the castle, seen in the
background, and the profusion of flowers in the meadow are all char-
acteristically fifteenth century Gothic.
An "Arras" in which time has dealt harshly with the colors is the
Flemish piece representing a battle scene with two mounted knights
fighting in the center of the picture.
"Peter the Hermit Starting on the Crusade" is another example
of the mingling of many small scenes, filling every corner of the
composition.
Animals and birds were always popular with the weavers. The
museum has an example of this form of design in the small panel that
portrays two ostriches, drawn with careful fidelity to nature. The
ostriches stand under heavy-leaved trees, their thick foliage typical
of Renaissance art, and in the distance are other birds.
The beginning of the deterioration of Brussels tapestries is il-
lustrated by "The Stag Hunt," a composition which calls for identifi-
cation before one is really convinced that it is intended to represent
Diana pursuing a stag. Diana is the most substantial of goddesses
who, with very little disguise, might pose as one of the plump Renais-
sance angels; the stag is an amazing animal, and the miscellaneous
array of hunters who surround Diana are surprisingly constructed.
The poor dyes used by weavers of the late sixteenth century are il-
lustrated in this piece. The grass is a harsh green, trees are blue or
brown, a muddy brown does duty for a flesh tint, and the pure colors
of the earlier tapestries are lacking.
Of the Aubusson examples, the largest is "The Last Supper," a
piece which has been valued at $20,000. Its date in the seventeenth
century places it in the period just before the work at this factory
began to grow careless, and the coarseness of the weave is a sug-
gestion of the beginnings of the later poor work.
An Aubusson example showing the tendency toward small pieces
and incidental scenes, characteristic of the French tapestries, is that
which pictures a scene outside an inn on the river bank. Another
small Aubusson, credited to the sixteenth century, is "The Kite."
Eight Gobelin panels are typical "tapisseries de verdure," with
their graceful landscapes.
"Curing the Sick" is a wool Beauvais tapestry, credited to the
eighteenth century. Its colors are good, especially in the red, brown
and blue tones of the robes.
Three panels are from still another factory, the source of Bra-
guenie tapestries. These show the characteristic French adaptation
of the Renaissance designs; the figures of the women in the pictures
combine the full and broad firmness of the Italian style, with a cer-
tain grace and daintiness that is typically French. The style is that
which reached its height with Watteau and has become identified with
his name. The colors of this piece are delicate and fresh, vivid rose
pinks and blues and a clear green.
The Ceramic Collection
Pottery, the Oldest of Arts — a Sketch of Its Development —
Oriental and European Productions — Modes of Decora-
tion— Pottery Produced Under Royal Auspices — Sevres
Porcelain — Oriental Porcelain — the Cloisonne Lions of the
Ceramic Gallery — British Pottery — Glassware.
Oldest of all the arts is the art of pottery. Very early in the
dawn of the world primitive man discovered that the clay of the rivei
bank could be formed into rude shapes that would dry in the sun and
serve to supply his exceedingly simple household wants. With the
exception of the cave dwellers of the Palaeolithic period, whose frag-
mentary relics do not include pottery, the art was practiced by all
known prehistoric peoples from the Neolithic age downward. Pottery
making, therefore, apparently developed some time during the
Stone Age.
The peoples of antiquity have left many examples of their skill in
pottery. The tombs of Egypt, the ruins of Greece and Rome and the
older countries of the Near East, the buried villages of less civilized
tribes, all ?ield vast quantities of potters' work. Pottery in the Orient
goes back thousands of years before the Christian era. Chinese offi-
cial annals first mention the manufacture of pottery in the year 2698
B. C.; porcelain was first made in the Orient under the Han dynasty
of China in the years between 185 B. C. and 88 A. D., some 1600 years
before Europe learned the secret.
During the Dark Ages, in the first few centuries of the Christian
era, the art of decorative pottery making disappeared in Europe, re-
turning when the Moors invaded Spain in 711 and brought with them
their secrets of Oriental decoration. The pottery they made during
their stay in Spain was the prototype of Italian majolica.
Ceramic art covers two great divisions, pottery and porcelain.
Under the first head come the coarser varieties, made directly from
the clay, and either glazed or unglazed. Porcelain is composed of
two basic materials, kaolin or white clay and petunze or feldspathic
rock. Both of these are granitic in character; kaolin, the product of
the decomposition of feldspar contained in granitic rock, and petunze,
the granite itself, or an allied rock in a weathered condition. The
hardness of porcelain depends on the proportion of the kaolin, and i*.
was the lack of knowledge of this substance that kept European
potters from learning the secret of porcelain for so long.
Pottery is made by modeling by hand, by shaping on the potter's
wheel, which keeps the mass of clay revolving while the pressure of the
workman's hand shapes it, or by pressing in molds and uniting the
parts of the object. "Biscuit" is clay after it has been shaped and given
its first baking in the kiln and before any surface finish has been
applied
Glaze is applied to pottery by dipping the object in a bath in which
the powdered material of glaze — practically the same as enamel — is in
THE CERAMIC COLLECTION 91
a state of suspension. Covered with this fine glaze dust, the article IP
again fired, and the glaze melts and covers the surface with a hard,
transparent film.
Decoration is applied to both pottery and porcelain in three princi-
pal ways : by adding coloring matter to the glaze itself, by painting
a design on the glaze-dusted surface before the last firing, or by
painting on the glazed surface and firing the articles sufficiently to
heat the glaze slightly and fuse the colors with it. The first method
gives a body color to the object; the second restricts the artist to the
few colors that will stand the extreme heat of firing and forbids the
use of intricate patterns because of the danger of the color spreading;
the third is the method used for fine pieces.
Differences in the glaze divide pottery into three further classes;
unglazed, or with a very thin glaze, which includes all terra cotta;
that with a thick opaque glaze, including majolica and the various
types commonly called faience; .that with a heavy transparent glaze,
including stoneware, English pottery, etc.
The second class of pottery was introduced into Europe by the
Moors, whose invasion of Spain, whatever its political or economic
significance may have been, was of great importance to the artistic
life of Europe. They continued the manufacture of this ware decorated
with metallic iridescence, due to partial reduction of the metallic
oxides in the pigments, during their stay in Spain, and the ware became
known as Hispano-Moresque. The decorations of the Alharnbra show
one application of the art. Malaga was the first center of pottery
making; later a factory was established at Majorca, where natives ol
Pisa, Italy, learned the art and transported it to their own country.
Italian princes and noble families lent their patronage to the manu-
facture of majolica, among the patrons being the Medici. In tho
twelfth century the art was applied to tile-making, tiles replacing the
more expensive mosaic work for floors.
In the sixteenth century pottery decoration was not considered
beneath the notice of the greatest artists of the time. Raphael and
other masters of the cinque-cento period made designs for pottery. In
1640 an Italian named Masso Finguerra discovered the art of copper-
plate engraving by which designs could be readily transferred to
pottery, and the art was greatly stimulated.
Italian artists who went to France in the time of Catherine de
Medici took their knowledge of pottery making with them and estab-
lished factories at Gien, Nevers, Rouen, Marseilles, Strasbourg, Mous-
tier and other centers. In similar fashion the workmen of Holland
learned the art, and the great factory of Delft was the result. In
England the principal potters were included in the Staffordshire
group, numbering such men as Spode, Davenport, Lilienthal and
Wedgwood.
In addition to painted designs, two principal methods of decoration
were followed— sgraffito and jeweled. The first was done by cutting
lines into the biscuit or vmglazed ware; the glaze ran thicker in these
lines than on the surface, and the pattern was thereby produced in
darker tracery. Jeweled ware is decorated with tiny bosses of enamel,
little lumps of colored enamel bein? fused on the surface of the glaze.
A third form of decoration, known as decoration en camaieu, is allied
to the first method. The piece is adorned with low relief modeling,
the glaze is applied, and since it runs thickest in the deepest hollows,
these are correspondingly darker, producing a shaded effect.
92 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
The first scattered examples of porcelain to reach Europe came
from Arab traders who* received them from Chinese, trading to East
Indian ports. In the early years of the sixteenth century, Portuguese
Jesuits, returning from the Orient, brought examples of porcelain and
also the secret of its composition. Before then the most extraordinary
theories had been held. Porcelain was said to be made of lobster,
egg and oyster shells, fish scales and gypsum, buried for a century
"to ripen." The returning missionaries were the first to explain that,
it was composed of the substances now known as kaolin and petunze.
European potters set to work to imitate the Oriental porcelain,
Although they did not immediately discover kaolin or a satisfactory
substitute, their persistent work was finally rewarded by the creation
of a new ware, differing in some respects from the Oriental porcelain,
but genuine porcelain, nevertheless.
The story that has grown up as to the discovery of kaolin in
Europe is a picturesque one. According to this tale, a Saxon alchemist,
Johan Fredrich Bottger, was accused of practicing the black art 01
magic and fled for protection to Augustus the Strong, elector of Saxony,
who dwelt at Dresden. Under the protection of Augustus, Bottger
continued his experiments, and in 1710 made the chance discovery of
porcelain clay. The story is that he one day noticed the unusual weight
of the powder with which his valet dressed his hair. Testing it, he
found that it was a hitherto unknown variety of fine white clay, brought
from Aue, near Schneeburg, in Saxony. He tried making vessels
of the clay, and discovered that it was the long-sought ingredient
of porcelain.
Augustus then founded the factory of Meissen on the Elbe, with
Bottger as director. To guard the precious secret, the factory was
made a veritable prison, with the workmen, sworn to the utmost
secrecy, held under close guard and threatened with heavy penalties
if they failed to keep silence regarding the new discovery. However,
about 1720 a workman escaped to Vienna, told the secret of the manu-
facture, and the knowledge rapidly spread over Europe.
During the early years of the Meissen factory the designs were
imitations of the Japanese. In 1731 Johann Joachim Kandler was
appointed chief modeler, and began the designing of the artistic little
groups known as Meissen or Dresden figures. Classical motifs were
introduced later.
After the secret was told factories were opened in many other
centers. At Berlin, for example, the factory opened in 1750 was under
state patronage, and many laws were made to encourage the work.
No Jew was permitted to obtain a marriage certificate unless he pos-
sessed a receipt for the purchase of a porcelain service.
The first porcelain factory in France was founded in 1673 at Rouen
by Louis Poterat. Very few examples of the work of this factory are
known. The first establishment on a commercial scale was founded
at St. Cloud in the late years of the seventeenth century under the
patronage of the Due d'Orleans, and other faqtories soon followed.
Louis XV founded a private royal porcelain factory in 1745 at Vin-
cennes, and in 1753 transferred his interest to Sevres, taking a third
share of the works. The official title of "Manufacture Royale de
Porcelaine de France" was then granted to the Sevres factory and a
date-letter marking system was put in force — A for the year 1753,
B for 1754, and so on to 1777, AA representing 1778. The system
continued until 1793, when a less regular method was adopted. Up
to 1792 the date letter was placed between two crossed L's for Louis,
THE CERAMIC COLLECTION 93
as Louis XVI continued the system of his predecessor, but with the
year of the republic the letter R was substituted. Later various mono-
grams were used.
The first type of porcelain made at the Sevres factory was known
as "pate tendre," or soft paste. Containing a smaller proportion of
kaolin in its composition, soft paste is granular and chalky on broken
surfaces and has less resistance to heat than hard paste, which is, as
its name implies, harder. Pate tendre was made at Sevres up to the
end of the eighteenth century, and pieces of this early period are rare
and valuable. Recently its manufacture has been revived. Sevres
porcelain is known for its creamy ground, soft glaze and delicate
decoration, and fine pieces are very valuable. Napoleon is -said to
have sent to the King of Etruria a Sevres vase valued at $60,000.
Jeweled Sevres was made after 1789.
Capo di Monte porcelain is an Italian ware, made at Naples in a
factory established in 1742 under the .patronage of Don Carlos, later of
Spain. The most celebrated variety is decorated with figures in high
relief, decorative in scheme and touched with red applied in the poin-
tille manner to the less prominent parts of the relief to give warmth to
the shadows. The designs of Capo di Monte porcelain are frequently
taken from marine subjects — fish, sea shells, coral or sea weed.
Porcelain manufacture in England did not develop to any extent
until about 1740 and received little royal patronage. Factories were
established at Bow, Chelsea, Derby, Worcester and other places, and
the Staffordshire potters added porcelain-making to their work. Eng-
lish porcelain was commonly decorated in heavy floral or pictorial
designs.
Beleek is a particular type of ware made in Ireland, distinguished
by an iridescent pale-colored glaze.
Porcelain in the Orient has followed its individual style, varying
in color and design from the European ware. The early porcelain
makers used simple metallic colorings, but often attained results that
western artists have tried in vain to copy. Celadon and sang-de-
boeuf are two characteristic Oriental colors. Celadon is a soft and
very beautiful green, known in China for 1500 years, and due to the
use of protoxide of iron. Sang-de-boeuf is a brilliant rich red for
which copper salts are used. Both these colors are applied in the
glaze.
The principal Chinese dynasties by which porcelain is dated are the
Sung, 960-1279 A. D.; Yuan or Mongol, 1280-1367; Ming, 1367-1634;
Manchu, 1634 until the founding of the republic.
Until the nineteenth century the kilns at King-te-chen, south of the
Yang-tse river, which had been used for 900 years, were the porcelain
center of the world. They were burnt during the Tai-ping rebellion
The popular blue and white decoration was probably learned by the
Chinese from Western Asia. It appears in well-developed style in the
fifteenth century, and the best period was from 1661 to 1722. The
value of blue and white depends on the quality of the blue.
Most famous of the blue and white wares is hawthorn china, a
beautiful and delicate design of tiny white flowers, shaped like an
apple blossom, against a deep blue background, which represents the
blue tone of ice. Hawthorn pieces of the best quality may run as high
as $5000 in value.
Cantonese ware is another well-known type of Oriental china. The
Cantonese artists discovered that by the addition of a minute quantity
of gold to the metallic coloring they could obtain a beautiful rose pink,
94 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
an entjrely new color. This type of ware is distinguished by elabora-
tion of design, figures or flowers in panels, each panel making a
picture and joined to the others by floral scroll work. Figures are
prominently used, and the faces are worked out in detail. Colors art
hard and brilliant, with the famille rose, or rose pink, predominating.
The increasing demand from the western world during the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries caused a decline in the quality of Oriental
pottery and porcelain, which was turned out in quantity to supply the
orders from Europe.
Japanese porcelain manufacture was not established as an industry
until early in the sixteenth century. It quickly felt the influence of
European demand, and never reached as high a point of perfection as
the Chinese work.
A pair of enormous cloisonne lions, designed for the Imperial
palace at Peking, stand guard over the gallery devoted to Oriental
ceramics. These huge beasts were purchased by Mr. de Young from
the Chinese commission to the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and are
very valuable, as such fine specimens are now rarely made, and the
size alone makes them out of the ordinary.
When he made the purchase Mr. de Young at first contemplated
buying only one lion, but the Chinese delegates explained that they
could not separate the pair, as they are always used together in China
and a single animal would be of no use. The pair represents the male
and female lion. The female, which stands facing the entrance door
holds her baby securely pinned dow.n under one large forefoot.
These animals are really as much dog as lion, as they are mytho-
logical creatures possessing the attributes of various species of terres-
trial animals. In a slightly different pose, usually seated sideways
with head turned, they are often known as Fo dogs, or Shishi. Accord-
ing to Buddhist legend, they have the rather Spartan habit of dropping
their offspring over the edges of cliffs or waterfalls to test their
vitality. A little Fo which survives this ordeal is assuredly entitled to
wear the family expression of ferocity.
The two museum specimens are cloisonne on copper, with claws
and teeth gilded. A bell of cloisonne hangs from the neck. The gen-
eral design is a blue ground with decorations of gold and red in elabo-
rate pattern. The lions are seated on teak pedestals over which are
spread remarkably fine bronze imitations of drawn work, the metal
wrought into delicate tracery and so fine that it seems to hang over
the edge of the pedestal like fabric.
Cloisonne, usually associated with Oriental ceramics, but well known
to European artists, is a process of enameling on metal, usually copper,
or other materials. The design is outlined in fine gold wire, forming
tiny fenced-off divisions into which the enamel powder is packed. The
object is then fired to melt the enamel, and the process is repeated
until the melted enamel fills the spaces. The surface is then polished
and rubbed down. Cloisonne is said by some authorities to have orig-
inated in Ireland and to have spread through Byzantium to China.
There are several remarkable specimens of ancient Irish work in
cloisonne. Cloisonne on copper is called, in the Orient, Shippo-yaki;
that on porcelain, Toki-shippo.
The particular pair of lions in the museum were made at the order
of the late dowager Empress, Tsi An, to guard the door of the Imperial
palace. Lions have been given the duty of guarding palaces and
temples since the beginning of the Ming dynasty in 1367. Before tha.
time unicorns, camels and golden horses were used.
THE CERAMIC COLLECTION 95
Another remarkable example of Oriental work is the huge inceuse
burner of hammered copper enameled with cloisonne. The burner is
four-sided, with three removable upper sections, and stands on a teak-
wood base, with lion's paws for feet. It is about three feet high. A
copper lion stands at the point of the cover, which is perforated in an
intricate design. The burner was filled with charcoal and aromatic
powder for the dual purpose of furnishing heat and scenting the rooms.
A noteworthy feature of this piece is that the bronze panels with their
elaborate perforated design are carved and not cast, as indicated by
the rough edges showing the traces of the tools.
One of the unusual pieces given for this collection by Mr. de Young
is the seven-foot-tall floor \ase of cloisonne on copper. This vase is
particularly interesting on account of the design of a conventional
scroll and lilies, differing very widely from the usual Chinese work
The lily design is called by the Chinese "Western Flower," indicating
that it originated somewhere beyond China. Another name connects
the pattern with Rome, and it is also called "Design of the Barbarians."
Around the lip of the vase is the Greek fret border, a design that
came to China by way of India. The pattern also includes conven-
tional bats, the Chinese symbol of happiness, and the flute, fan
lotus, gourd, sword, clappers, flower basket and rattle sticks, borne
by the Eight Immortals who have sway over the lives of men.
The vase was made for the imperial palace, and is a type of the
huge floor vases that began to be used during the early years of the
seventeenth century.
Another giant cloisonne vase, also the gift of Mr. de Young, has a
copper base and silver trimmings. This specimen is Japanese and was
made by S. Suzuki, one of the noted artists of that country. It is
about seven feet high, with elaborate handles and an intricate design
at the lip. The opposite sides are decorated with contrasting scenes,
one showing a stormy sea with breaking waves and a ferocious dragon
coiling in the cloudy sky, and the other a peaceful sea with a flight of
birds and a large round moon. The designs are in gray and blue.
Two Japanese vases, standing about three- feet high, are from the
Awata factory, one of the principal porcelain establishments of Japan.
The vases are decorated with an intricate gold and crimson design,
noteworthy for the odd treatment of the figures in which the faces of
porcelain are set into the elaborate background.
The wall cases contain hundreds of rare and valuable specimens of
Oriental handiwork, Chinese, Japanese and the rare Korean. There
are plates, cups, dishes, temple pieces, figure groups, tiles, and ever;
conceivable form of pottery and porcelain work, representing all the
best known wares and many of lesser importance.
Among the pieces are some excellent Satsuma examples, a ware
which originated when the Prince of Satsuma invaded Korea and
brought back as captives makers of the beautiful ware.
A rare piece is a Korean rice bowl about 500 years old of crackle
ware. It was taken from a grave. Korean work is rare and valuable,
as little of it was done in recent centuries, and the old pieces were
destroyed.
Tiles taken from the ruins of the tombs of the first Ming Em-
peror of China date back to the late fourteenth century, when tiles
were first made in China.
An odd variety of "pottery is known as powdered tea ware from the
use of powdered tea to give it its beautiful tone of soft grayish green.
96 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
It is a variety of stone china, made principally during the eighteenth
century, and is very heavy and solid.
In the cases are several fine specimens of the valuable hawthorn
ware with its blue ground and delicate white flowers. The museum
collection of hawthorn, donated by Mr. de Young, has been given high
praise by Sir Paul Chester of Hongkong, who is the owner of the best
collection of hawthorn known.
Modeling figures, singly or in groups, occupied the attention of
many Oriental potters and porcelain makers. Temple pieces include
statuettes of gods and goddesses of many characteristics, as well as
allegorical figures and decorative pieces. Geisha girls, dancers, ath-
letes and children were favorite models for the potters, and historical
groups were frequently made. All these cfasses are represented in the
museum collection, which is unusually large and complete.
The familiar Sleeping Cat of Nikko is not forgotten, the exceedingly
sound asleep cat which in the western world frequently serves as a
door-stop. The original of this cat was carved in wood by Jingoro, a
famous wood-carver of the sixteenth century.
A remarkable collection, gathered by Claxton, a pottery enthusiast,
and purchased and donated by Mr. de Young, is the display of tea
caddies and bowls that fills one large case. There are 32 caddies and
36 bowls in the collection, each in its silk case, and each of distinctive
beauty.
The Japanese tea ceremony is a cult which has existed since the.
sixteenth century when knowledge of the tea ritual was brought to
Japan by a Buddhist priest who had visited China. Elaborate ceremony
surrounds the drinking of tea in the Orient, and the most detailed
rules are laid down for observance. Tea bowls are treasured as family
heirlooms, and Oriental makers put their best efforts into the manu-
facture of these objects. Each tea jar is individually designed.
Some of the bowls in this collection have been made for the use of
royalty, as is indicated by a gold inlay along the rinf of the bowl,
placed there that the royal lips might not be forced to touch common
clay. An idea of the value of the collection may be gained from the
fact that a collector once made an offer of $5000 for a single specimen.
Another unusual collection is Mr. de Young's display of ginger jars.
The jars are in various wares, blue and white and in other colors, and,
like the tea bowls, are individual in design. They have covers of
teakwood in pierced designs, and are particularly beautiful for their
simple, strong proportions.
The collection of Sevres is particularly good, especially the display
of cups and plates of the Napoleonic period, which bear portraits of
Napoleon, Marie Louise, Josephine and other men and women of the
day. Unfortunately the disaster of 1906 broke a number of the plates,
but several survived.
Three wonderful Sevres pieces are housed in a special case. They
include an oval bowl on a standard of gilt filigree, decorated with a
Watteau panel and an elaborate filigree gilded lip and handles, supple-
mented by a pair of vases in the same design with etched bronze
ornaments.
'An interesting Dresden set, which is remarkably complete, is one
which was made for Ludwig II of Bavaria, known as the Mad King
and the ruler whose palace is reproduced in the Royal Bavarian rooms
of the museum. This set has scenes from "Lohengrin" painted on a
blue background with a gold and white border.
THE CERAMIC COLLECTION 97
Another beautiful Dresden piece is a cabinet of ebony inlaid with
porcelain panels in Watteau style, solid columns of porcelain at the
corners, and elaborate gilt decoration.
The four famous Vases of the Elements which stand in the Porcelain
Museum at Dresden are reproduced in examples in the Memorial
Museum. These vases, which are about two and a half feet high,
represent Fire, Air, Earth and Water, and are decorated with many
symbolical figures.
The little Dresden or Meissen groups of figures are notable for their
extreme delicacy, the lace and silk patterns of the costumes being
exactly reproduced.
A large and conspicuous piece is not European but Indian, a great
vase in brilliant yellow and blue with curiously crude designs and
strange animals serving as handles.
One very beautiful and valuable piece is the famous Doulton vase
which was made by the Doulton factory in England for the Columbian
Exposition at Chicago in 1893, and which was there purchased by Mr.
de Young. The panels of the vase, painted by Piper, are in remarkably
beautiful fruit and flower designs, notable for the smoothness and
delicacy of the color. Diana and a wolfhound stand on the top of the
cover, and the ivory tone of the groundwork is exceptionally fine. The
vase is said to be the best example of Doulton work known and is
valued at $1200.
Another remarkable piece which was also made for the Columbia
Exposition and bought by Mr. de Young for the Museum, is a Royal
Worcester vase, said to be the finest piece of Royal Worcester in exist-
ence. Its cameo-like delicacy of design is marvelous. There is also a
splendid piece of jeweled Royal Worcester in another case.
The collection of majolica is unusually representative. Majolica is
distinguished from other wares by its decoration rather than by shape
or method of manufacture. -The Italian potters of Tuscany in the six-
teenth century imitated the Spanish ware, brought to that country by
the Moors, and developed a brilliant luster decoration that makes
pieces of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries especially valuable.
Single pieces of this period sometimes bring as much as $10,000.
Rivalry among the majolica makers was keen, and the towns of Faenza,
Savona, Gubbio, Cafaggiola and Deruta sought each to put forward the
best pieces.
The modern Italian potters are resuming the making of majolica
after the sixteenth century designs, and most of the museum pieces are
reproductions of antique originals from the Cantagalli establishment
at Florence. Among them are a covered jar and a large vase in Savona
style in blue and white; a Deruta vase with decoration in Spanish
colors in Raffaelesque style, the Spanish influence being especially
marked in Deruta; a Venetian vase in green and blue, and a particu-
larly interesting Venetian vase, the Persian design of which shows the
influence of Venetian trade with the Levant.
Majolica plaques, both Italian and Spanish, show another application
of the art.
Some very interesting pieces are Talavera ware, Spanish and
Mexican. The first ware of this type was made at Talavera-la-Reyna,
in the interior of Spain, and the art was taken to Mexico by Spaniards
of the seventeenth century. The natives of the state of Jalisco, Mexico,
learned to make the ware, and developed a most interesting combina-
tion of Spanish and native art, the designs showing distinct traces of
98 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
their Aztec ancestry. The designs are done in bold black on vermilion
or other solid colors.
A case of blue and white ware offers an opportunity to compare
the styles of the different potters. The Staffordshire group is well
represented, and there are also examples of Delft and Willow ware
One Staffordshire platter in this case has a unique history. It was
found in the ruins of a convent and church at Mauqina, Philippine
Islands, and bears the stamp of an English maker of the eighteenth
century.
The Wedgwood display includes many excellent reproductions of the
remarkable collection of originals in the South Kensington Museum,
London. The Wedgwoods were an old Staffordshire family, and John
Wedgwood (1654-1705) was a potter as early as the seventeenth century.
He was the great-uncle of Josiah Wedgwood, who in the next century
founded the famous factory. Only one piece signed by John Wedgwood
is known to exist, a three-spouted puzzle jug in the Jermyn Street
Museum of Geology in London. Wedgwood's characteristic output was
plaques and vessels, delicately tinted in blue, green or brown, with
minute cameo reliefs in white paste, applied while the clay base was
soft and fixed by firing. The favorite models, especially for plaques
and vases, were classical, and many antiques were copied. Such
examples as the Thorvaldsen plaques are typical. Reproductions of
these are included in the museum collection, as well as many vases,
bowls and pitchers.
The glassware collection forms an exhibit by itself. The making
of glass is an ancient industry. Tombs of the Egyptians of the fourth
and fifth dynasties (4000 B. C. et seq.) show glassblowers at work.
Tyre and Sidon were centers of the glass industry of the ancient world.
Sidon is credited with the invention of mirrors.
Although Assyria and Babylon were known for glass-making, little
was done in Greece. Glassware in Rome was very popular and cheap.
Ancient writers mention the small prices for which objects of glass
were sold.
Byzantium (Constantinople) was the great source of glass until the
rise of the Venetian industry. Workmen fleeing from Constantinople
after its fall in 1204 came to Venice and set up their factories, making
glass for mosaics and also articles of glass. The thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries saw the industry at its height. The Venetian Council
of Ten made rigid rules for the protection of the industry. Artists
were forbidden to leave, and a story is told of one who escaped, only
to he followed to Normandy and stabbed with a dagger inscribed
"Traitor."
In 1291, fearing the danger of fire, the Venetian authorities ordered
the glass furnaces to be removed to the island of Murano, near the city,
and here the glass-makers formed their own republic. Glass-making
was an honored occupation. Noblemen married their daughters to
glassworkers, and their children were regarded as members of the
nobility.
By 1495 the shops of the glassworkers on Murano formed a street a
mile long, lined on either side with little shops, as the tendency was
toward small furnaces with a few workmen at each rather than large
establishments. Articles of glass were made by individual designs.
Glass vases and cups were used for gifts to royalty, replacing gold.
Various types of decoration were developed by the Venetian glass-
workers. Among them were "milleflore," a mosaic of white threads- in
a blue or colored ground; "vitro de trine," twisted rods of opaque
THE CERAMIC COLLECTION 99
white in clear glass; "latticelli," a lacelike network. Many improve-
ments on the rediscovered lost art of the ancient glass blowers were
made by the Venetian workmen. About 1300 they discovered the
process of covering plates of glass with amalgam of tin and mercury,
and improved on the older style of mirrors. Marco Polo persuaded
the Venetian glass-makers to make beads for the African and Asiatic
trade, and the Venetian product was thus distributed throughout the
known world.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century the Murano colony
included more than 300 workmen. After that the decline was rapid,
and by the beginning of the nineteenth century the colony was reduced
to one factory. Recently efforts have been made to revive the industry,
and more factories have been erected.
The Venetians specialized in glass novelties. The glass they made
was very soft and malleable and could be formed into delicate shapes.
Elaborate pieces were sometimes -reheated fifty times before they were
finished.
Bohemian glass, made by German and Hungarian workmen, is
stronger in color and bolder in outline than the Venetian variety.
Ruby glass, colored with copper or gold, was invented in the seven-
teenth century by a Prussian named Kmeckel, and the new color
became popular for this type of work.
France and England also made glass, although not to the extent
of Italy's work. English crystal is particularly beautiful. A glass
factory is said to have existed at Poitiers in France in Roman times
France and Germany are rival claimants for the invention of stained-
glass windows. Painted glass windows at Limoges are said to date back
to 800 A. D., and the abbey of Tegernsee in Bavaria has stained win-
dows which are said to be equally old.
The glass collection in the Memorial Museum includes both originals
and .reproductions of the earlier and rarer Venetian pieces; Carlsbad
glass, French work, English crystal, Bohemian glass and other types,
showing all styles of design, from the beautiful simplicity of Venetian
goblets and bowls to the ornate and heavy patterns of German pieces.
The Oriental Gallery
Temple Bronzes — Buddhas — Figures — Lacquer Work —
Great Bronze Lanterns — Temple Bells — Cloisonne — In-
cense Burners — Models of Pagodas — Samurai Swords —
Embroidery — Netsukes — Ivory and Wood Carvings — Life-
sized Figures.
With the artistic wealth of the Orient almost at the doors of
San Francisco it is not surprising that the Oriental gallery of the
Memorial Museum houses one of the largest, most representative
and most valuable collections in the entire building. Filled with
rare treasures from across the Pacific, the gallery is also a splendid
example of effective installation. Every article, from the giant
temple bronzes to the tiniest ivory netsuke, is displayed to the full-
est advantage, and the various classes of exhibits are so grouped
that interesting comparisons are possible.
One side of the gallery, between two entrance doors, is given
over to a massive temple installation, a gilt and crimson shrine
with elaborately embroidered hangings, a huge gilt Buddha and
other accessories, smaller Buddha figures, images of other gods,
temple bells, temple furnishings and similar articles. The center
of the gallery is occupied by several large glass cases containing
special collections, such as the valuable array of netsukes and
inros, ivory carvings, lacquered articles, and so on. About the walls
are other cases, filled with bronzes, examples of lacquer work, carv-
ings, figures of gods and goddesses, and a thousand and one articles
of beauty and value.
Directly in front of the main entrance door is a magnificent
example of bronze casting, an enormous bronze urn or "non," to
give it its Japanese name. This huge urn has a diameter of three
and one-half feet, and weighs about one-fifth of a ton. It was
made during the latter half of the nineteenth century at the order
of an Osaka temple, and is an absolutely perfect specimen of bronze
casting. The clear bell-like tone that is awakened if the urn is
sharply tapped could not be produced if there were a flaw in the
metal.
In design the urn is splendidly simple, wide and low, rising in
beautiful curves to the rounded shoulders, which are adorned with
a line of small round bosses, the only ornamentation on the bowl.
Standing in the center of the gallery are two giant bronze lan-
terns, nearly ten feet tall, from the Temple of Nan-Ko-San, Kobe.
These lanterns are elaborately designed with dragons curling about
the standards, intricate open-work patterns in the sides, and the
typical upcurving lines of the covers. Hung about the lanterns are
small bronze bells, and the legend goes that when these bells were
rung by devotees, the god Butsu heard prayers offered to him. The
lanterns are especially beautiful for their light green patina or
finish.
THE ORIENTAL GALLERY 101
Another antique temple piece of bronze is the bell that rests
on its teakwood pedestal in the center of the room. The inscrip-
tion in ancient Japanese characters is translated to read: "Made
in the second month of the year of the cock for the Buddhist temple
of O-to-ku-ji." The second month of the year of the cock is to be
interpreted as March 11 to April 18, 1785, and the temple of O-to-
ku-ji is the present monastery of Fuku-ju-san.
The principal treasures in bronze of this collection are found
in the wall cases. Hundreds of pieces are gathered here, vases,
bowls, sword guards, charcoal burners, ornamental pieces, mirrors,
incense burners and many other articles. Some of the bronzes are
decorated with enamel inlay, and both Chinese and Japanese work
of all periods is represented.
In a case to the right of the entrance door, as the visitor
comes from the Statuary Hall, stands one of the most remarkable
vases of the collection. This magnificent specimen of bronze work
was made by Tsunheiro, a famous artist of the eighteenth century.
It is a vase of classic form, decorated, in low relief, with represen-
tations of all types of vases made by Oriental artists, enamel,
cloisonne, iron, bronze and other materials. The different types of
vases are accurately imitated in the bronze surface, giving a perfect
reproduction of the rough iron vessels, the smoother bronze, the
highly finished enamel or cloisonne surfaces, and so on. The
grouping of the vases about the sides of the parent vase is a beau-
tiful example of still life composition.
A rare piece in this same case is a Korean charcoal burner
of copper with brass overlay. It is interesting largely because of
its rarity, for Korean houses are usually heated with small stoves,
and burners of this type are seldom found. The burner is a large
bowl, about twenty inches in diameter and twelve inches deep, with
brass handles at the sides. About the top is an overlay of brass
in the teardrop design, a pattern of squares not unlike the familiar
Walls of Troy. When used as a charcoal burner, the bowl was
filled with sand and an iron firebox filled with burning charcoal
half buried in the sand, which kept the heat from reaching the
outside bowl.
Another antique firebox or hibachi is of hammered iron, decorated
in conventional dragons. This particular box is about 100 years
old, and was designed and made by Miochin, one of the most famous
ironworkers of Japan, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries.
Allied to the charcoal burners are the bronze incense burners
or koro. These small boxes, usually set on four legs with a some-
what rounded body and a perforated lid, are familiar to the Occi-
dent through the many modern examples found in every Oriental
store. They were filled with sand, and the incense either scattered
on the sand or, if in stick form, thrust through the holes in the lid.
One beautiful specimen of antique incense burner is of Ise
bronze with a dragon design on the lid. Ise prefecture is known
as the "holy land of old Japan," where Shintoism has had its strong-
hold. Bronze workers were particularly numerous there, and the
Ise work is regarded as the best Japanese type.
A curious example of bronze casting in this case is the leap-
ing carp, a large metal fish, so cunningly shaped that it stands
balanced almost literally on its tail.
102 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Carp, so frequently found in Japanese art from their association
with religious beliefs, are also used in the decoration of a large
and beautiful urn of bronze. Darting fish swim about the sides
of the urn, remarkable in the accuracy of the difficult perspective.
The design was made by hammering from the inside of the urn,
bringing the carp into sharp relief. The urn, which is some three
feet in diameter, is about 100 years old, and its age has given it a
beautiful patina of full green and copper red.
Interesting objects in the case of bronzes are the Shinto mir-
rors. Shintoism, which is regarded as the national religion of Japan,
is notable for the ascetic severity of its temples and the absence
of idols. In the place of the usual images and elaborate decora-
tions of a Buddhist shrine, a Shinto temple contains on its altars,
the mirror, the crystal ball and the sword, emblems of the faith.
The mirror was used to remind the maker of prayers, gazing upon
it, that his sins are seen as he sees his face in the mirror, in which
disguises are penetrated. Writers on Japanese subjects state that
in former days a sword was buried with a man and a mirror with
a woman, since these articles were held peculiarly symbolical of
the sexes. The Shinto mirrors in the museum are small round
affairs of copper and bronze, held upright by a short standard, which
is usually carved or modeled.
A bronze model of a pagoda occupies one corner of a case. The
pagoda, formerly built as a shrine over relics of saints, is now oftan
erected in the Orient by individuals who wish to "acquire merit" by
the deed, just as chapels are given by members of other faiths. The
pagoda thereby takes on something of the nature of a family shrine
or memorial. It is invariably built with an odd number of stories.
A collection of unusual interest and value is the display of
sword guards or tsuba, small discs of bronze, elaborately carved or
chased, with a slit for the sword. These were used by the samurai
of old Japan, and one of these two-sword warriors would usually own
a large number of tsuba, so that he might vary the appearance of
his costume day by day, as the modern man varies his tie pins. Tsuba
went out of use in 1876 when Prime Minister Sanjo signed the decree
forbidding the wearing of swords. Millions of the attractive little
metal articles came into trade and found their way into collections.
The typical tsuba is of iron or bronze, heavily hammered and
usually in open-work design.
The general collection of bronzes contains a large number of in-
teresting and beautiful vases, boxes, trays, swords, ornaments and
many other articles. A considerable number of the bronzes given
by Mr. de Young were purchased at the Deardorf sale some years
ago, and represent the best of the early Meiji era, when a new free-
dom in art and ideals brought about a renaissance in Japanese art.
About the walls of the Oriental room hang some beautiful exam-
ples of Japanese and Chinese embroidery and painting, several excell-
ent kakemonos or wall panels, embroidered pictures, hangings and
similar objects. Screens of lacquer and wood illustrate another form
of Oriental art. Some of these screens are very old, notably a three-
panel screen or Coromandel lacquer of the Kang Hsi period (1662-
1722) and a four-panel screen of the Chien Lung period (1736-1795).
A collection that repays careful study is the remarkable display
of netsuke, collected and donated by Ney Wolfskill, who also gave the
special cases in which the exhibit is displayed.
THE ORIENTAL GALLERY 103
The netsuke is distinctively Japanese, and is designed for pur-
poses of utility as well as adornment. It has taken the place of
jewelry for the men of Japan — women do not wear netsuke — as Japan
is unique among nations in that her people have never worn jewels
or precious metals for ornament.
The Western equivalent of the netsuke is the watch fob. A Japa-
nese, wearing his native garment without the convenience of pockets,
thrusts into his girdle his purse, his tobacco pouch and pipe, his
portable writing materials or anything else he desires to carry. To
keep the articles from slipping through, he fastens a cord to them,
and at the other end of the cord ties a netsuke. Netsuke are to be
distinguished from other small carvings by the two little holes in
the back through which the cord has been passed.
Wood and ivory are the usual materials of which netsuke are
made, although any durable material may be found. The earlier pieces
— seventeenth century — are usually of wood, and the later periods in-
cline to ivory.
The average height of a netsuke — or the diameter of those in
flat circular form — is two inches. In this tiny space the Japanese
artist creates the most intricate designs, in the majority of cases
illustrating some legend or folklore tale, usually comic or flippant.
The minute detail of the carvings is amazing; in the two-inch space
the artist often places several figures of men or animals, each dis-
tinctive, each perfectly carved, each possessing its own individual
humor. Every netsuke is a separate design; in the museum collec-
tion of 780 specimens there are no duplicates, even though several
of the netsuke may depict the same theme.
Animals and birds are very popular among the makers of net-
suke. One finds in this collection monkeys, rats, dogs, badgers, frogs,
foxes, chickens, pheasants, cats, rabbits, boars, goats, bulls, tigers,
deer, turtles, spiders, sparrows, snakes and many other living
creatures. The wealth of legend with which the Japanese surround
various animals furnishes material for many designs. The fox, for
example, is the rather mischievous deity of the rice fields, who, at
the age of 50 years, may take the form of a woman, at the age of
100 the form of a young girl, and at the venerable age of 1000 faces
the delightful prospect of being admitted to heaven and becoming
a celestial fox with nine tails. Rats were assigned the task of waiting
upon Daikoku, the god of wealth, and gnawing his rice bags to en-
force the lesson that wealth, once acquired, must be guarded. Many
legends refer to the badger, the raccoon and the dog, and monkeys
figure in a vast array of folklore.
Other popular figures deal with the legendary spirits and imps
of Japanese belief. Most frequently seen are figures of "Oni" or evil
spirits, who, in their lighter moments, indulge in more or less harm-
less mischief. Fortunately the Oni have a horror of roasted black
beans, and the New Year's ceremony of casting this variety of bean
about the house serves to clear the place of the imps, for the time
being, at least. One of the netsuke portrays this ceremony, and oth-
ers show Oni at their pranks.
The principal foe of the Oni was Shoki, or demon destroyer.
Legend relates that he was a student who committed suicide in
chagrin at his scholastic failure, but, by special order of the emperor,
was buried with high honors. His spirit, in gratitude, sought ever
after to battle the demons who infested the country and who were
no respecters of persons, swarming as thickly in royal palaces as
104 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
in humble homes. Shoki carries a double-edged sword and a large
hat, which is most convenient for the purposes of trapping Oni. Sev-
eral of the netsuke show Shoki with a squirming Oni caught under
the useful hat.
In addition to these legendary subjects, the events of daily life
furnish a multitude of subjects. Children at play, wrestlers in com-
bat, strolling actors, musicians, workmen at their tasks, dancers,
women at household duties and similar scenes are shown. Often
animals are pictured assuming the roles of men with humorous
effect. Netsuke of simpler conception are designed to represent
flowers, fruit, masks or conventional designs.
Inlays of metal — gold, silver, copper or bronze — lacquer, jade,
agate or contrasting varieties of ivory or wood are used to adorn
the netsuke.
The entire display represents thirty years of collecting and is
valued at $75,000.
Another collection of great value is the Walter Heyneman case
of inros or purses. These beautiful specimens of Oriental work are
in lacquer, metal, ivory and other materials, showing all types of
work and varying designs. In the collection of eighty-seven speci-
mens, there are no duplicates, and each inro is an individual study.
The art of ivory carving, splendidly illustrated by the collection
in the Oriental gallery, as well as ivories in other galleries of the
museum, is one of the oldest forms of artistic expression. The pre-
historic man who discovered that he could scratch rude pictures
on the tooth of the mammoth or the tusk of the sabre-toothed tiger
he had slain, was beginning the art developed to the height of its
perfection by the patient craftsmen of the East. After the man of
these dim ages came men who learned how to shape the easily
handled ivory; gradually the art grew until it is practiced in every
part of the world where ivory is obtainable.
True ivory is the tusk of the elephant. Inferior qualities include
the tusks of the walrus or narwhal, used by the Alaskan Indians. The
best ivory comes from Africa, and the best quality of African ivory
is found near the equator. It is closer in the grain and has less
tendency to turn yellow than the Indian ivory.
Japanese ivory carving, like her other arts, has shown signs of
deterioration since the coming of Western trade. With the tremen-
dously increased demand and the pressure on the workers, the out-
put, while larger, is of inferior quality, and fine pieces are steadily
growing in rarity and value.
The first Japanese ivory carving was done for temples and for
religious uses. In the seventeenth century an edict was issued com-
manding every householder to equip his home with at least one image
of a deity. Ivory being a popular material for these images, the
work of the carvers was greatly stimulated for a time, until the
supply began to equal the demand — an ivory image lasting for many
lifetimes — when the carvers turned their attention to other articles,
notably netsuke or purse guards.
The Memorial Museum, in its Oriental gallery, displays a fine col-
lection of Oriental ivories, notable both for number and for quality.
In addition to the ivory netsuke in the Wolfskill collection, there are
many cases full of beautiful carvings of all types and sizes. Several
collections, donated as such, have made this growth of this division
of the exhibit very rapid.
Marble bust entitled "California." Executed by Hiram Powers, one of America's
greatest sculptors. Statuary Hall.
THE ORIENTAL GALLERY 105
One of the remarkable pieces of carving is the sword with ivory,
sheath and handle, the blade having been forged by the famous Japa-
nese armorer, Munechika, 986 A. D. The sheath of this magnificent
example is carved with figures of Rakans or disciples of Buddha,
and so delicate is the workmanship that the separate hairs of eye-
brows of these figures stand .out distinctly.
Another splendid sword and sheath measures sixty-three inches in
length, every inch of the sheath elaborately carved.
Carving in wood has long been an art in which the Oriental
craftsmen were proficient. Larger figures were made of this mate-
rial, including many images of deities and temple figures. A favorite
type of image was carved of wood and elaborately gilded. Many
of the idols in the museum collection are of this class.
A very old example of Japanese wood carving is the quaint little
figure of General Minamoto Yoshimoto, hero of the battle of Hiyodon,
fought some thousand years ago. The general, in full panoply of
battle, red lacquered armor, helmet, sword and spear, is mounted on
a remarkable horse, a'.so equipped with suitable protection. The
armor shows the characteristic heavy shoulder plates and curious
square design of ancient Oriental styles.
Many examples of carving are found in the collection of temple
property, including images of deities, articles used in the temple
ceremonies, etc. The huge gilt shrine which fills one side of the
gallery was brought from China during Boxer times, when so much
of the ancient treasure of the country was "acquired" by the foreign
visitors. On the ledges of the shrine stand many figures of Buddha
and other divinities in woodcarving, ivory, stoneware, bronze, lacquer
and other materials.
A remarkable object is the three-panel screen which once formed
a portion of the doors of the inner temple at Tokyo. The screen is
lacquered over gold, and was made at a period when gold was
valued only for its color. The panels are of delicate latticework,
beautifully lacquered.
In front of this screen stands a terrifying creature — Yemma, king
of Hades. According to Japanese lore, Yemma is the dread judge
who apportions to mankind, after death, reward or punishment for
good or evil deeds on earth, dispatching them to Paradise or Hades,
his own particular kingdom, according to their merits. He is said
to possess a huge mirror in which the thoughts and acts of men are
reflected, and also a book in which he enters punishment given to
offenders. With his long drooping mustaches and bristling eyebrows,
his fearful scowl and his hideous mouth, Yemma is enough to terrify
the most hardened wrongdoer.
An interesting piece of wood carving occupies the center of the
case devoted to this form of art. It is a symbolical carving of
camphor wood, representing the twelve animals corresponding to the
constellations of the zodiac. These animals, the rat, bull, tiger, hare,
dragon, snake, horse, sheep, dog, boar, monkey and rooster, are shown
climbing over each other in a most intricate arrangement, with the
topmost pair supporting a globe on which are inscriptions. These
animal symbols are used in Oriental astronomy to indicate time,
directions, years and dates. The day and night are divided into twelve
instead of twenty-four-hour periods, beginning with the "hour of the
rat" at midnight. The carving in the museum was done at Osaka
in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
106 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Other wood carvings in this case include figure studies, conven-
tional groups, animals and other subjects.
The museum collection of lacquer is one of the most valuable
and complete in the entire display. This peculiarly Oriental art is
represented by hundreds of pieces of all types, illustrating the best
work of the Chinese and Japanese artists.
The Chinese were the originators of the art, the Japanese learn-
ing it from them in the beginning of the sixth century and rapidly
surpassing their teachers. The earliest examples of lacquer work
are plain black. About the eighth century, gold dust began to be
used to relieve the black, and between the ninth and twelfth century
the Oriental artists learned the use of gold leaf and bits of mother-
of-pearl as additional decoration. Formal designs were usually em-
ployed in the early pieces; decoration in relief was introduced during
the fifteenth century, and at the end of the seventeenth century saw
the art of lacquering at its height.
"Lac," which is the principal material used in lacquer work,
is a thin gum taken from the trunk of a tree, strained and the water
removed, and coloring added. The Oriental workman shapes the
object to be lacquered of wood, usually of white pine. It is cov-
ered first with a layer of very thin Japanese cloth or paper, to pre-
vent warping, and then sized and lacquered. Successive coats of
lacquer are applied, dried and rubbed down, and finally given the
smooth and highly polished surface of the background. The object
is then turned over to the artist, who takes the tray or box with its
plain, adorned surface of black lacquer, sketches the outline of his
design with white lead, fills in the design with colors or gold, and
covers the whole with a coat of translucent lacquer, minus the
usual coloring matter. The fine gold spattered effect characteristic
of many pieces is accomplished at an earlier stage by sprinkling the
object with gold dust.
Cinnabar lacquer is a special type, the beautiful red shade being
attained by adding cinnabar coloring to the original lac. Objects
decorated with cinnabar lacquer customarily have no other adornment,
the color and carving serving as the only decoration. Cinnabar
lacquer is frequently used for furniture, and the museum contains
several specimens of this work.
Lacquer workers must take every precaution to keep thejr
work free from dust and the touch of foreign objects that would
destroy the smooth surface. For this reason they often work or
board boats moored in the rivers, to avoid the danger of dust set-
tling on their work while the lac is still moist.
The principal lacquer collections in the Oriental gallery are those
given by Mr. de Young and Walter Heynemann. Mr. de Young's col-
lection includes a quantity of valuable and beautiful pieces, such
as boxes and caskets of all descriptions, trays, tiny screens, worship
bells carried by women on their way to the temple, articles of daily
use, boxes for holding the materials to blacken the teeth of married
women, thereby presumably rendering them unattractive in the eyes
of all save their husbands; the characteristic low tables of the Japa-
nese household, ornaments, and a hundred other objects. Both Japa-
nese and Chinese work is represented.
The Heynemann collection also covers a wide variety of objects
in all the different types of lacquer.
One writing table of black and gold lacquer was presented by
Mutsuhito, Mikado of Japan, to Charles E. de Long, American Minis-
THE ORIENTAL GALLERY 107
ter to Japan in 1873, and the first white man to be received in audi-
ence by the Mikado after Perry made his historic visit. Red lacquer
screens 350 years old, antique trays and boxes, and many other
beautiful specimens are included."
The designs on lacquered work are always notable for their deli-
cacy and beauty, particularly the gold tracery on the black back-
grounds, often with a drift of gold dust bringing out the full effect.
One unusual use of gold and lacquer is the inlay of small bits of
gold leaf at close intervals in a bed of lacquer. Japanese artists
declare that this form of decoration requires a higher degree of
skill than any other type of lacquer work.
Hundreds of miscellaneous articles of Oriental origin are gath-
ered in this gallery, where hours can easily be passed in detailed study
of the many forms of Oriental art.
An exihibit that invariably attracts the closest attention is the
example of Japanese modeling that was donated to the museum by
the Japanese commission to the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Seated
in a glass case is the life-size figure of a man, modeled with abso-
lute fidelity to nature. He is in a crouching position, hands hanging
between his knees, and his head tilted slightly back. In anatomical
detail, texture of the skin, veining of the hands, the finger nails, the
eyeballs, even in the manner in which the hair apparently grows
from the scalp, the figure is a marvelous example of modeling. It
is not at all an uncommon occurrence for juvenile% visitors to the
Oriental gallery to refuse flatly to believe that the coolie is not alive,
and so lifelike is the work that it is not difficult, even for older
visitors, to imagine that a quick glance would catch him in motion.
Another lifesize figure portrays a Japanese coolie drawing a
jinriksha, a reminiscence of the Midwinter Fair.
Over one of the doors is a large model of a Chinese theater,
brilliant with gilt and crimson and holding the richly costumed
figures of Chinese actors.
A unique exhibit is the model of the residence of Soichiro Asano,
president of the Toyo Kisen Kaisha, included to show a typical home
of a wealthy Japanese.
The Arms and Armor Gallery
A Collection That Illustrates the History of Warfare —
Types of Weapons of All Times — Specimens of Guns and
Other Devices Employed in the Great War — Aeroplane,
Field and Other Guns — Armor of Mounted Knights, and
Foot Men — Oriental Armor — Posters and Other War
Relics — Weapons of Primitive Man.
The history of warfare is set forth in the splendid collection that
is housed in the main central hall of the unit, a hall so large that
the German battle plane that forms its most conspicuous exhibit has
plenty of room to spread its wings, and yet a collection so great
in scope that every available inch of the big gallery is pressed into
service.
The European war was the source of a vast quantity of the
exhibits. Mr. de Young presented an extremely valuable assortment
of war relics, and the museum was also fortunate in obtaining the
great number of objects brought back from Europe by Congressman
Julius Kahn and Morris Hertzstein of San Francisco, a collection
gathered during a tour of the battle fronts as members of an official
party. Many other donors have added their gifts to the war collection,
making a display so complete that it is difficult to think of any
object which is not represented.
Wars of former years are illustrated by collections of relics of
the Spanish-American war, the Boxer uprising, the Civil War, Phil-
ippine insurrections and other struggles. Still older conflicts are
represented in the collections of armor, old-time weapons, war ma-
terials from all parts of the world, native spears, shields, swords
and similar weapons; a complete display of guns, rifles, muskets
and small arms; cases of swords, daggers and strange Oriental
knives; scores of spears, lances and darts in every conceivable shape
and size; field artillery, modern and of older type; and a great quan-
tity of articles of individual historical interest.
The military display has been very excellently installed, the larger
objects, such as field guns, ammunition carriages, the German plane
and so on, arranged in interesting groups on the floor, and the case
material classified by periods. Individual cases are devoted to the
display of types of weapons, swords, pistols, daggers, Oriental knives,
etc. Overhead, from the crossbeams of the hall, hang a number of
historic flags, American and foreign, and other flags are placed over
the cases.
Very effective displays of shields, spears and lances are ar-
ranged above the wall cases, classified as to type and geographical
origin. Curiously shaped mediaeval battle axes and spears radiate
from shields used by knights of the Middle Ages; vicious-looking Ori-
ental darts surround odd shields of straw, shark skin or rhi-
noceros hide.
THE ARMS AND ARMOR GALLERY 109
The German battle plane that is suspended in the center of the
hall is a grim relic of warfare. Great gaping holes in the fuselage,
the wings and the engine, broken struts and wires and bent wheels
are suggestions of its last flight, when it was brought down by
allied fighters. The lower faces of the wings are camouflaged with
a checkerboard of various colors, designed to make the plane dif-
ficult to see against the sky. Huge iron crosses are painted on the
wings and fuselage, and the side of the machine bears the word
"Stropp." The particular form of decoration carried on the nose of
the plane indicates that its aviator was a flyer of note, presumably
a German ace.
A curious bit of history attaches to the plane in the fact tnat
its engine is stamped with a guarantee, warranting it for service
until July 28, 1918. It was just about this date that the Germans,
halted at Chateau-Thierry by American troops, began their last retreat.
Beneath the plane stands ano.ther relic of modern warfare, a two-
man tank, ft is also a trophy captured from the Germans, and bears
the scars of its final battle, when a shell went through the radiator
and exploded in the gasoline tank, killing both members of the crew.
The tank has steel armor an inch thick, weighs six tons and is
equipped with a rapid-fire gun, still in place in the tower. It is
such a ponderous affair that when it was delivered at the museum,
brought there on a seven-ton Army truck, a four-inch hawser was
snapped like a thread in the effort to haul the tank down the runways.
Surrounding the plane and the tank are several pieces of fielrt
artillery from the recent war. Included in the collection are sev-
eral of the famous French seventy-fives, captured German guns,
American artillery, field mortars, machine guns, light artillery and
heavier pieces of all types.
The artillery collection is completed by several most interesting
historical specimens. Among them are two cannon used by Wal-
lenstein's army during the Thirty Years War. These guns of the
seventeenth century have bronze barrels, and wooden carriages, and
appear clumsy and slow of action, compared to the modern pieces.
Another cannon of historical interest is a ship's gun from the famous
British ship Bounty, which figured in a thrilling tale of mutiny anc*,
piracy, and was burned by pirates and mutineers at Bounty bay,
Pitcairn island, in 1790.
Several old Spanish pieces are included, among them a bronze
mortar captured after the battle of Manila, which bears an inscrip-
tion dating its manufacture to 1780 in the foundries of Peru. Another
pair of ancient Spanish cannon may be found at the entrance to the
1917 unit of the museum, guarding the doors. These two bronze
cannon, which possess an irresistible lure for every child who visits
the museum and promptly climbs on the old guns, were captured
by Admiral George Dewey from the Spaniards at Manila. They are
elaborately decorated with the arms of Carlos IV of Spain and bear
lengthy inscriptions in Spanish. Each gun has its own individual
name, El Invencible standing to the right of the door and San Carlos
to the left. El Invencible was cast at Manila on June 11, 1791, and
San Carlos also at Manila on March 12, 1799. The former weighs
6096 pounds and the latter 6496 pounds. It is quite probable that these
highly decorative pieces never fired a shot.
An interesting member of the cannon family is a German can-
non, made at the Krupp works in the years before the great war,
when the Krupps had time to spend on the decoration of individual
110 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
pieces. This cannon is adorned with the imperial crown and coat of
arms, and was made principally for parade use.
A curious object that is a little difficult to identify at first is a
listening tower. Shaped like a beehive, it is built of six overlapping
rings and a cap of steel, with narrow slits for listening and ob-
serving. The tower was placed over a hole in the ground in which
the observer stood, and is tall enough to cover head and shoulders.
The oldest warfare brought to mind by the museum collection is
that of the period when men went clad in mail and fought with huge
two-handed swords and battle axes. The collection of European armor
is representative principally of the sixteenth century, and most of
the specimens are German, although there are a few French suits.
Three astonishingly elaborate suits show the type of armor worn by
Oriental warriors.
The pre-Norman period covers all the armor of antiquity, the
cuirass of the Roman soldier, the Greek types and the partial cover-
ings of the early centuries.
By the beginning of the twelfth century the typical Norman armor
had developed. This was a combination of metal plates and tanned
leather, completely covering the body. There was usually a conical
helmet with nasal or nose protector. The body covering was of
metal plates, and the legs and feet were guarded by pliable, metal-
studded chausses. The shield was usually heart-shaped and curved
to fit the body.
Chain mail is familiar to all who have ever inspected collections
of armor. It is composed of an endless number of small rings laced
together, each ring with four others threaded into it and the whole
forming a very close, pliable and easily carried protection. The hel-
met of this period, known as the heaume, was commonly made with
a square top and curved under the chin with a peephole for the eyes.
Chain mail being found not always sufficient protection, the suits
were reinforced with sections of plate covering vital spots. This led
to the next period of armor, chain mail reinforced, when the suits
were heavier and more cumbersome and helmets developed curved
crowns.
The hard-fought battles of the Franco-English wars developed
the next form, the studded armor. It was a combination of the best
features of all previous types, chain mail, plates and cuir-bouilli or
tanned leather. Helmets lost their cumbersome shape and became
metal hoods or bascinets, sometimes with visors.
In the transition period the beautiful lines of the earlier armor
gave way to a heavy, cumbersome style, most noticeable in the Teu-
tonic armor. The helmets were enormous affairs, with movable vi-
sors, cheek pieces and chin guards or mentonnieres. A skirt of chain
mail hung from waist to knees.
With the next period came the introduction of gunpowder and
the gradual abandonment of armor for use in the field. It was still
worn at tournaments, however, and since it did not have to with-
stand heavy wear, was made most elaborate and beautiful. Emperor
Maximilian was particularly fond of ornate and beautiful armor, and
the style is named after him.
The last stage of armor, or half-armor, was a strictly utilitarian
period, when sections of plate were worn merely to cover vital parts
of the body, without regard for beauty. In the seventeenth century armor
began to be grotesque. The cuirass dwindled to a small flat breast-
plate; the metal greaves which had covered the legs were replaced
THE ARMS AND ARMOR GALLERY 111
by high-top boots of leather, and instead of the serviceable shoes of
mail, low slippers with their points turned rakishly back were worn.
By the time of Louis XIV armor had disappeared altogether, and was
replaced by suits of tanned leather.
James I of England is credited with the shrewd remark that
armor was a very useful invention, for it not only saved the wearer
from being killed, but hampered him so that he was unable to kill
anyone else.
Japanese and Chinese armor has always been of an elaborate
and fantastic type. The helmets were commonly made as hideous as
possible, with ferocious false mustaches, iron masks cast in terri-
fying expressions, and long beards of horsehair, in order to strike
terror to the enemy. The usual Japanese armor, well illustrated by
the museum specimens, was made largely of lacquered metal plates,
strung together with silk on the principle of Venetian blinds. These
suits were handed down from generation to generation, the silk pad-
ding being renewed when necessary. The practice of wearing armor
was a persistent one, especially among the old nobility of Japan. The
conservatives clung to their armor to a period as late as the middle
of the nineteenth century. In the civil war of 1859, when the more
liberal party set up its new government, the soldiers of the conserva-
tives still wore armor. It was left for the liberal leaders to introduce
Occidental methods of warfare
Japanese bows were usually made in two pieces of unequal length,
and appear clumsy beside the European specimens. The bowmen
knelt to shoot.
The museum collection of armor represents both the type worn
by the mounted knight and lansquenet armor, or that worn by foot
soldiers. The term lansquenet is derived from the German land-
sknecht, or foot soldier, which was applied to German soldiers, espe-
cially mercenaries, serving during the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries.
The full armor includes several complete suits of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, coats of mail and individual pieces. Notable
among the number are two Nuremberg suits of about 1540, polished
black with white etched or embossed stripes. An Austrian suit, com-
plete, of the period of 1550, is from the famous Zschille collection at
Graz. French armor of the same period is also shown, both in the
case and worn by the figure mounted on a horse in the center of the
room.
The lansquenet armor includes several specimens of German
work. Among them is a suit worn by a lansquenet drummer in the
sixteenth century. The head of the figure on which the armor is
placed is a sixteenth century German carved mask. The fleur-de-lis
embossed on the morion or helmet has no connection with France,
but is the badge of the civic regiment of Munich and the symbol of
the Virgin.
The value of European armor of this period is indicated .by prices
paid at a French sale not long ago, at which a rare Italian helmet
of the sixteenth century brought 61,000 francs; a French half-suit
and gauntlets of the sixteenth century, 27,000 francs; a fifteenth cen-
tury coat of mail, 1550 francs; a pair of fifteenth century gauntlets,
1300 francs, and so on.
The Oriental armor in the museum includes several complete
suits of traditional style. One Japanese warrior is mounted, and the
others stand in the wall cases, this group including a bowman in a
quaint and picturesque costume.
112 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Protection of the head has always been sought by fighters, from
the Roman soldier with his helmet to the soldier of 1918 with his
"tin hat." Many types of head guard have been developed, and much
attention was paid to ornamentation. The museum has a large col-
lection of helmets, both originals and reproductions of old speci-
mens. The oldest types of all are to be found in the Egyptian and
Pompeian rooms, where are some excellent reproductions of the
bronze helmets worn by the Roman legionaries.
In the Armor Hall the helmet collection ranges from the heavy
metal protectors of ancient times to the elaborate plumed helmets of
the French cuirassiers and the very recent trench helmets. Germany
is largely represented by originals and reproductions of the head
guards worn by the different regiments and classes of fighting men —
Prussian shakos, Saxon caps, artillery caps, metal helmets of various
types and other specimens. There is a large collection of French
material, First and Second Empire predominating, and showing the
contrast between the headgear worn by the men of different classes
of service. The plumed helmets of the cuirassiers, so often seen in
battle pictures of the period — as, for example, in "La Prise du Dra-
peau," by Jules Desvarreux, in the museum galleries — are well rep-
resented.
Placed with tlie relics of the late war are a large number of
helmets of a more modern type, as well as many trench caps, fatigue
caps, headgear for special occasions and the distinctive helmets of
such regiments as the German Hussars of Death, this huge black
shako bearing the white skull and crossbones.
Among this array are several new and unworn helmets of an
elaborate type that suggest one of the grim satires of the war. They
were taken from a collection found stored in a secret hiding place
in a village seventy-five miles outside Paris, and were intended to
be worn by the Germans on their triumphal entry into Paris, an
entry which was unavoidably prevented.
Another collection of interest and value is the display of epaulets
of all periods and types, arranged in the case with the helmets.
Turning to relics pertaining especially to the late war, the visitor
will find a collection of great interest and value, covering every con-
ceivable feature of the four years' struggle. In the display are all
types of machine guns, rifles, small arms, grenades, bombs, projectiles,
shell cases, air plane bombs, gas shells, bayonets, swords, gas masks,
trench material of every description from periscopes to entrenching
tools, smoke machines, relics from ruined cities, fragments of captured
planes and guns, trench kits — in a word, a representative collection
of all the vast mass of material made necessary by modern warfare.
The guns alone make an interesting and varied display. In ad-
dition to many types of rifles from the different armies, there are
several machine guns with the long belts of cartridges; rapid-fire guns
for airplene use; "Archies" or anti-aircraft guns; anti-tank rifles, car-
bines and a dozen others.
Grenades and bombs are of all types, German, Austrian and French.
Cases are filled with projectiles, shell cases, cartridges, rifle bullets,
incendiary bullets, the vicious dum-dum or soft-nosed bullet, gas
shells, bullets designed to pierce the armor of tanks, dispatch shells
used for their special purpose, airplane bombs and darts dropped by
German aviators, depth bombs or "ash cans," bomb throwers of all
types and several huge brass shell cases, about three and a half feet
tall and ten inches in diameter, that are reminders of the davs when
THE ARMS AND ARMOR GALLERY 113
"Big Bertha" was bombarding Paris. The student of these matters
will find several interesting displays of cartridges, arranged to show
their construction, especially an exhibit of Italian material in which
the cartridges are cut in half to illustrate their structure.
Much documentary material in regard to the European war is also
gathered in this collection, some of it of great value and unique
interest.
Among the examples are a number of German proclamations,
posted in the captured cities and laying down rules for the conduct
of the inhabitants, these proclamations invariably closing with the
warning that violation of any rule would mean "immediate reprisals,'
which to the average German military commander meant only one
thing.
One of the posters is a facsimile of the placard that appeared
one day in a Belgian city, announcing that sentence had been passed
upon certain individuals, among them Edith Cavell.
A picturesque episode of the war is recalled by the presence*
among the exhibits of a copy of La Libre Belgique, the indomitable
little newspaper that appeared day by day during the German occu-
pation of Belgium, setting forth in unsparing terms the true state
of affairs, voicing vigorous condemnation of German cruelties, and so
successfully keeping the secret of its abiding place that the Germans
were never able to find and suppress it. Day by day Von Bissing,
the military Governor of the occupied district, found a copy on his
breakfast table, but never succeeded in finding out how it was placed
there.
Other war publications, official documents, quantities of battle-
front maps, lists of the air raids on Paris, showing details of each
attack; bread tickets, ration cards, allied loan posters, sign-
boards from the trenches and notice boards of all types from the
war zone, an autograph letter from General Pershing and many other
exhibits of interest complete this collection.
Among the war photographs are pictures of a group of tiny but
very brave heroes of the battle — the carrier pigeons who served with
such distinction that decorations were conferred upon them just as
upon soldiers. Cher Ami is the best-known of this group. Several
of the pigeons were wounded in service, and the legends below their
photographs tell of dispatch-carrying journeys completed in spite oi
serious hurts.
A different type of war picture is represented in the collection
of fifteen engravings by Gueldry, the French artist, who was of-
ficially assigned the task of preparing pictorial records of German
atrocities, described in official French reports. Scenes of the utmost
brutality are illustrated in these pictures, and the records on which
they are based are cited in each case.
The collection of miscellaneous war material is large and varied.
All phases of trench life are recalled by the display of the many
articles that figured in the daily life of the soldier overseas. Gas
masks of all types are shown, as well as the gas machines against
which they were designed to guard. Relics from Verdun, Soissons
and other ruined cities are supplemented by photographs and docu-
ments. Clothing and other articles manufactured from paper recall
the days when the Germans began to feel the pinch of necessity.
Remembering the war clubs of the South Sea island collection,
the visitor will find material for illuminating comparison in war
methods in the two Austrian war clubs, used in hand-to-hand com-
114 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
bat. The Austrian club makers had the advantage of the South Sea
natives in that they were supplied with steel spikes with which to
stud the head of one of their clubs and barbed wire with which to
wind the head of the other.
Another method of defense used by the Germans against cavalry
is illustrated by the defense prongs, a development of the chevaux
de frise. These ugly little weapons are clusters of sharp metal
spikes, about ten inches in diameter and bristling with points in
every direction. They were designed to be thrown in the path of
advancing cavalry.
Looking back .from the recent war to battles of older days, the
visitor will find a small collection of Civil War material, bullets and
trophies collected from various battlefields, battle flags, old guns and
similar material.
The representation of Spanish war and Philippine insurrection
material occupies a special case, and includes a number of very in-
teresting relics. In the general display are guns, rifles, shells,
cartridges and similar material, as well as many trophies taken from
captured Spaniards or conquered natives.
Relics of the Maine include a fragment of twisted armor plate
and bits of metal from the ill-fated battle-ship. Naval engagements
of those days are recalled by fragments of glass from the port light
of the Reina Cristina, the Spanish flagship at Manila. To what ex-
tremities the Spanish were driven by their lack of war material is
shown by the stone cannon ball, taken from the Spanish war ship
Ulloa at Manila, May 1, 1898, when the Spaniards were reduced to
using such antiquated missiles for lack of iron and steel.
Several interesting flags find place in this collection, among them
several Filipino battle flags captured from the insurrectos. These
are usually of red cloth with crude designs in white, cut out and
roughly sewed on the red background. A flag of historical interest
is the guidon, once the property of Troop F, 2d Squadron, llth Cav-
alry, which was used at San Mateo Marguinee, the station where
General Lawton was killed in December, 1899. The guidon saw ser-
vice for two years and three months, and was in thirty-one engage-
ments.
A flag with a curious history is the triangular Boxer flag of red
and white. This trophy was presented to the Museum by H. H.
McCormick, who captured it in June, 1900, from the Taku forts. He
took it with him on his adventurous wanderings from that time until
December, 1919, when he presented it to the Museum. The flag mascot
traveled with its owner from China to South America, where he took
part in various revolutionary activities; then to the United States,
where McCormick joined the Coast Artillery and went to the Philip-
pines with the California Volunteers to help subdue the insurrectionists;
then to Ecuador, where McCormick engaged in the peaceful pursuit of
engineering. This quiet existence lasted only until McCormick heard
rumors that the United States might become involved in the great war,
whereupon he promptly returned to his own country, enlisted and went
overseas in 1917 with the 316th Sanitary Train, 91st Division. He saw
service in the battles of St. Mihiel, Meuse, Argonne, Ypres and Lys and
managed to carry his unique mascot with him.
McCormick informed the Museum authorities when he presented
the flag that Chinese frequently refused to interpret the characters
which adorn it and declare that they are afraid to touch the flag.
The general display of military material is extremely valuable
THE ARMS AND ARMOR GALLERY 115
and interesting. In addition to the scores of weapons used in the
wall adornment there are several cases filled with guns, pistols, swords,
knives, daggers and other weapons, as well as a large and valuable
collection of powder horns, spurs, touch boxes and other objects.
After primitive man had progressed beyond the stage of stone
throwing and had discovered the principle of the slungshot and the
bow and arrow, growth in the making of projectile-throwing weapons
was slow until the Middle Ages. The bow and arrow satisfied the
warrior of the early centuries. Catapults were developed by the
ancient nations, but they were heavy and clumsy affairs, suitable only
for the siege of fortified cities. The warrior, whether on foot or horse-
back, was content with his sword, his battle-ax, his dagger, and even
the bow and arrow were left to specialized troops.
The bowmen of the centuries, when Europe was in a constant
state of turmoil, were a definite part of the fighting force, and de-
veloped their own technique of battle. The short bows of the earlier
years were adapted by these students of archery into the famous
longbow of the tenth to twelfth centuries. The English bowmen were
masters of the art; their exploits have formed the material for many
a picturesque tale.
The first development from the bow was the crossbow, a mech-
anism by which bolts instead of arrows were shot from a heavy
and rather clumsy weapon in which the cord was mechanically drawn
back instead of being pulled by hand. The crossbow was held flat
instead of perpendicularly, as was the case with the longbow.
Crossbows date back to the tenth century, and by the twelfth
century they were in general use in France, the English still holding
to their longbows. Unlike the usual course of events, the old style
proved better than the new. English archers of the period far sur-
passed the French crossbowmen, being able to send a flight of twelve
arrows while the users of the new weapon were firing three of their
short, heavy bolts. The strings of the crossbows, being permanently
affixed to the weapon, and not detachable, as with the old-style bows,
could not be protected from the rain, and often lost their elasticity
at the critical moment.
The battle of Crecy in 1346 offered final proof of the inadequacy
of the crossbow, and after the battle of Poitiers, when English archers
again outfought their opponents, armed with crossbows, the use of
the crossbow in battle was gradually abandoned, although it was still
used for hunting. Not until the introduction of gunpowder, which
entirely revolutionized the methods of warfare in Europe, was a
definite change made in weapons.
The ancestor of the modern rifle, with its delicate and complex
mechanism, was a very simple affair — the culverin of the fifteenth
century. This first small arm in which the new discovery, gunpowder
was used, was merely a straight tube of metal half an inch or larger
in diameter, fixed to a wooden or iron handle, with a touchhole and
flashpan at the side. It was fired by the primitive method of thrust-
ing a lighted match into the touchhole, igniting the charge. The
smaller culverins, weighing about fifteen pounds, were carried by
men on horseback; the larger type, weighing perhaps sixty pounds,
were fired from trestles.
Later came the serpentine, which differed from the culverin in
that the igniter was held by a lever descended into the .flashpan.
This developed into the matchlock, which had its flashpan covered by
a metal lid to keep out moisture. The origin of the expression, "A
116 M. H. UK YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
flash in the pan," la a reminiscence of failure of the powder to ignite.
The wheellock gun, invented in Nuremberg in 1515, was a com-
plicated affair, the principal feature of which was a metal disc
with a serrated edge. This was wound up by a spring and released,
whereupon the disc revolved and its toothed edges scraped against a
flint, producing sparks that flew into the flashpan and ignited the
powder. This type of gun, however, was very expensive to make and
slow to operate, so that it never became common in warfare.
After the wheellock came the flintlock, a development of the
same principle of forcing contact between flint and steel. The ham-
mer of the gun was provided with a "flint cock," and when the
hammer was brought down flint and steel were brought into violent
collision. Flintlocks were first used in the Netherlands and were
brought to England by the soldiers who came with William of Orange.
They were used for many years; old-fashioned flintlock muskets were
still in use in 1840.
The American Revolution was responsible for the introduction oi
the rifle to the world. Of course, the rifle had been in use for a
long period, but it was not generally adopted until that time.
Attempts had been made as early as the seventeenth century to
contrive a weapon that would shoot straighter than the smooth-bore
muskets. In 1635 a patent was granted for what was the beginning
of a long line of rifles, but the real principle of the rifle was not
discovered until Benjamin Robins, a gunsmith, who died in 1751,
applied the principle of physics which sets forth that the flight of a
forward-moving object can be controlled or affected by applying a
rotating motion as it begins its flight. Robins found that by grooving
the barrels of his guns so that the bullet when it emerged was spin-
ning rapidly, he could reduce the curve induced by gravity.
However, the British Government was not particularly interested
in Robins' experiments until the battles of the American Revolution
began. The American frontiersmen and hunters had long before that
time discovered the excellence of a rifled barrel; when their lives
often depended upon the accuracy of their shooting they were not
likely to overlook any improvement in gunsmithing. Consequently
the British troops found themselves confronted by American woods-
men armed with guns that could outshoot anything owned by the
British soldiers. The lesson was immediately learned, and before
long the British armies and the other armies of Europe were equipped
with straight-shooting rifles.
Pistols were developed rather early in the story, coming not
long after the invention of the wheellock early in the sixteenth cen-
tury and its failure to fulfill its promise. They were invented in re-
sponse to a demand for small arms for horse soldiers.
Camillo Vettelli of Pistoia, in Etruria, is credited with the manu-
facture of the first pistol in 1540. These early pistols were large,
clumsy affairs, with short barrels and heavy butts almost at right
angles to the barrel. Later a more convenient angle between butt
and barrel was adopted. It is sometimes difficult to tell whether a
weapon of this period is a gun or a pistol; as for example the four-
chambered arquebus, now in the museum of the Tower of London,
which is said to have been the property of Henry VIII. The barrel
of this ancient weapon is two feet nine inches long. The arquebus
was usually held against the breast of the soldier instead of at the
shoulder — a method of firing which must have produced rather un-
THE ARMS AND ARMOR GALLERY 117
comfortable results. The stocks of the old arquebus were often
elaborately inlaid, as illustrated in several Memorial Museum speci-
mens. One of these, a sixteenth century German petronel — a devel-
opment of the arquebus — is a very, decorative affair.
The pistol owes most of its improvements to the custom of dueling.
The hot-tempered gentlemen of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies, when the pistol was replacing the rapier for the settlement of
disputes, demanded the best available weapon for their use. Dueling
pistols ordinarily came in pairs, to provide each duelist with his
weapon, and were stored in cases fitted out with every possible ac-
cessory. The Memorial Museum has several specimens of dueling
pistols in their cases, showing the characteristic long barrel and
elaborate design.
The invention of the revolver, with its circular ammunition car-
rier, caused the pistol to be relegated to the uses of dueling and target
shooting until comparatively recent years, when its use in military
service has been revived. The pistol is declared to possess greater
accuracy and greater power, and a 'larger supply of ammunition can
be carried ready for use. Pistol cartridges are carried in clips in
the stock of the weapon; revolver cartridges in a revolving drum, and
where the revolver's traditional form is the six-shooter with its six
available rounds, the automatic pistol can store away from eight to
ten rounds, even in the smaller patterns.
The gun, musket and rifle collection in the museum covers a wide
range of periods and countries. Beginning with the ancestors of the
modern gun — the arrow and crossbow — the specimens include arque-
buses, petronels, flintlocks of the Louis XVI period, quaint old blun-
derbusses with their large bore and shell-shaped muzzle, muskets of
various types, carbines, rifles, many types of carbines and other
weapons used by the armies of the world, and several Oriental ex-
amples.
The small arms are equally varied and interesting. In addition
to the dueling pistols in their cases, there are French and English
pistols, German and Austrian army examples, dating back to the
early years of the nineteenth century; examples of the old horse
pistols with their excessively long barrels and leather holsters, to
be slung from the saddle; American cavalry pistols of 1850, Belgian
derringers, many makes of English pistols, Mexican pistols with elab-
orately engraved barrels, and a comprehensive collection of Colt
revolvers and pistols from the earliest type to the modern weapon.
Several of the specimens, especially those donated by members of the
Police Department of San Francisco, possess historical interest.
Allied to the display of guns and pistols is the de Young collection
of powder horns. In the days when cartridges had not been in-
vented and every musketeer had to carry his own bullets and powder,
the powder horn was an important part of his equipment. The col-
lection includes examples of mediaeval European work, early Amer-
ican, Oriental, Moorish and African. The European examples, prin-
cipally German, Italian and French, date from the fifteenth century
and the years following, and are made of horn, ivory, tortoiseshell anc
other materials, usually carved with elaborate designs. Forming part
of this collection is a display of touchboxes in which the soldier car-
ried a finer quality of powder for igniting the coarser powder used
in the charge. This fine powder was poured into the flashpan oi
the weapon and carried the fire to the heavy granular powder behind
th« bullet.
118 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
The collection of spurs in an adjoining case includes several old
and interesting specimens, one pair reputed to have been worn by
Don Miguelly Costa, a member of Pizarro's expedition.
Swords and daggers form another division of the collection. The
oldest sword is an ancient Roman blade of plain, unadorned metal,
double-edged, with the heavy cross-hilt of the period. On the blade
is a rough inscription, inlaid in silver, "Leg. VI," indicating that the
sword was the property of a soldier of the Sixth Legion.
The Roman sword, with its straight blade, double edge and heavy
hilt, set the type for swords until the sixteenth century. The huge
two-handed swords of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, illustrated
by several examples in the armor collection, are developments of the
Roman type. As it must have taken a strong man to wear the armor
of that time, so it called fof a pair of strong arms to swing the mas-
sive sword that accompanied the armor. Tales of sword strokes that
sheared through helmet, head and body, "to the midriff," as old writers
say, are understandable in the presence of these huge weapons, which
by weight alone would cleave through anything but the strongest
protection.
The saber or cavalry sword, with its single cutting edge and
slightly curved blade, was introduced about 1690 from the Poles
and Hungarians, who in turn received it from the Turks and Saracens.
The most famous swords are Damascus blades, known alike for
their beauty of appearance and their wonderful temper that permits
them to be bent double without breaking. These blades were made
by a method that has never been fully recovered. Authorities are
uncertain whether the watered appearance of the metal is due to a
cunning blending of strips of steel and iron, welded in a manner that
modern armorers have been unable to copy, or to the use of a special
variety of iron ore containing carbonate of iron, partially crystallized.
The tendency of Oriental swordmakers, especially in the Near
East, is to curve the blade. Turkish scimitars, yataghans, Filipino
bolos and other weapons are types of this shape.
The Memorial Museum sword collection is large and representa-
tive, especially in the display of swords of the French First and Second
Empire period. These have elaborate hilts and guards, inlaid with
precious metals or mother-of-pearl. The most gorgeous of the collec-
tion is a sword of state presented to a Hungarian nobleman by the
Emperor of Austria. The scabbard of this weapon is of crimson velvet
and gold, set with many-colored jewels.
The French and Spanish swords and rapiers are especially beau-
tiful in their slender lines.
Many curious types are found among the Oriental swords. There
are Turkish scimitars, curved blades sometimes with toothed edges;
Egyptian swords that are so excessively curved that they describe
almost a half-circle; Japanese weapons; a beautiful East Indian
"Flaming Sword," with intricate engraving on the wavy blade; yata-
ghans from Egypt, Persia, Albania and Turkey, weapons with slightly
curved blades, single-edged, and usually elaborately engraved and in-
laid; many bolos, machetes or heavy knives, and beheading knives
from the Philippines; Javanese and East Indian creeses (sometimes
spelled kris), weapons with rippled blades and carved handles; a cle-
wang from Borneo with a handle of human bone, ornamented with
human hair, and many other equally interesting specimens.
The Filipino beheading knife has seen service, judging from the
tufts of human hair that decorate it, each tuft indicating a victim.
THE ARMS AND ARMOR GALLERY 119
A dagger was an essential part of the costume of the man oC
mediaeval times, and of not a few women. Daggers were — and are —
universally carried in the Far East, and the hunting knife or even the
humble pocket knife of today is a 'descendant of the dagger of olden
times.
In the museum cases are several daggers and knives of unusua1.
interest. Among them are several examples of the European "miseri-
corde," or mercy dagger, carried by knights to end the misery of
wounded men or dispatch fallen foes. In days before the medical corps
and the Red Cross a quick death was the only relief for the man
who suffered serious wounds in battle, and it was the custom for
these special daggers to be carried for this purpose. The museum
specimens are English and date back to the sixteenth century.
The Furniture Galleries
Antique Chairs and Other Objects Fashioned by Celebrated
Artists — American Contributions — Gothic, Chinese and
Other Designs in Furniture — Rare Wood and Costly In-
laid Cabinets — Furniture From Many Nations.
The furniture collection at the museum is arranged in two main
galleries, one devoted entirely to chairs and sofas and the other holding
cabinets, chests, desks and larger articles. A few articles, such as the
Napoleon throne and bed, which are closely associated with special
exhibits, are placed in other parts of the museum.
The chairs are exhibited on a raised platform that circles the
gallery, so that they may be inspected at ease. Many countries and
periods are represented, and there are numerous pieces of great his-
torical value.
Three interesting old chairs are German wedding chairs, bridal
gifts of a century ago. They are similar in type, of heavy dark wood
with straight backs and wide panel legs, elaborately and somewhat
clumsily carved. Each is inscribed with the name of the owner; one
bears the name of Margretta Meyer, 1855; one, that of Margretha
Jurgens, Anno. 1776; and the third, that of Peter Giese, 1801. Peter
Giese's chair is not only carved, but painted with brilliantly colored
scrolls and floral designs.
Italy is represented by five antique chairs, the oldest a quaint
Tarsia chair, made at Florence in the sixteenth century. It is of dark
wood inlaid with ivory. This marquetry or inlay was a popular form
of decoration for centuries, and still persists.
A curious bench chair, accredited to the seventeenth century, has
a very narrow seat and back, upholstered with illuminated and gilded
leather, and the wood of the chair is carved.
A Venetian armchair is heavily carved, and a pair of slender hall
chairs of the seventeenth century are carved in high relief in their
straight backs, which are surmounted by baronial crowns, and on the
wide panels which form the legs.
An antique Spanish chair has a slung seat of leather, darkened
by time. A carved side chair and a chair that dates back to the mid-
dle of the seventeenth century are also Spanish in origin. The latter
example was once the property of Don Pedro Fages, Governor of Cali-
fornia in 1790, and later came into the possession of Frederick Low,
Governor of California in 1870.
A chair of the Louis XIII period, elaborately gilded and up-
holstered in crimson, represents French art, and England contributes
two Chippendale pieces of the period from 1760 to 1770, one a side
chair and the other an armchair, as well as a Queen Anne armchair
of the eighteenth century.
Two chairs of interesting history are American in origin. One
is the Senate chair, a massive affair upholstered in blue velvet, which
was occupied by Thomas Hart Benton, father of Jessie Benton Fre-
THE FURNITURE GALLERIES 121
mont, and later by Stephen A. Douglas. The chair dates to the period
before the Civil War, when the Senate sat in the chamber now oc-
cupied by the Supreme Court. In 1859 the present Senate wing was
completed and the furniture of the old room sold at auction. This
chair was bought by George T. Brown, sergeant-at-arms, who pre-
sented it to his niece, Mrs. John P. Young. She, in turn, presented
it to M. H. de Young for donation to the museum.
The chair, like others of the room, was designed by B. H. La-
trobe, architect of the Capitol, and was made in Baltimore before 1819.
Benton, its first famous occupant, was the first Senator to advocate
an overland railway to California. Douglas took the chair on Ben-
ton's retirement.
The other American chair is a Heppelwhite example, which is
said to have been used by George Washington when he reviewed
American troops at Salem, Mass., on October 29, 1789.
Several examples ot Gothic chair-making are included in the col-
lection, such as the Baronial Hall chairs, heavily carved, and with
leather upholstery, adorned with brass bosses.
Three chairs of unusual shape with unique, deeply curved backs,
are from China. They are of red lacquer, decorated with gold. An-
other Chinese piece is the teakwood settle, heavily carved with panels
of grapes and figures.
A teakwood sofa of unusual interest is an East Indian affair,
a replica of the one presented to Edward VII. The story of Buddha
is told in the panels, carved in complicated detail with figures, flow-
ers, scrolls and conventional designs.
East India is also represented by a teakwood table and chair,
beautifully carved. The carving is done in openwork design, and the
back of the chair alone has been estimated to hold nearly 1000 tiny
flowers. The two pieces are about 300 years old.
An odd-shaped folding chair with inlay of mother-of-pearl and a
small table to match are likewise from East India.
In this gallery are the De Fremery portraits, a fine collection of
examples of the old Dutch school.
In the larger furniture gallery the principal object of interest is
the Spanish throne. This was erected in Seville on the occasion of
a visit from Isabel of Valois, wife of Philip II. It is made up of a
platform with an elaborate backing of red velvet and heavy carving,
ornately gilded. Two chairs stand on the platform, also adorned with
gilt and crimson ana bearing the royal arms. The seats of the chairs,
scarcely six inches in width, suggest that Isabel of Valois could not
have passed a very comfortable hour listening to the homage of the
good people of Seville. Spanish leather with the characteristic stamp-
ing and gilding covers the seats.
France is well represented in the furniture display. Some of
the pieces are tables and rosewood cabinets of the First Empire
period, a Louis XV cabinet, an elaborately carved chest of the Louis
XIII period, a table and four chairs, upholstered in yellow silk and
adorned with marquetry, that belongs to the First Empire; an odd
old barometer of the regency (1715-1723), and other examples.
One interesting piece is the Boule writing desk, made in double
sections like the modern hotel writing desk, and showing
elaborate workmanship. Boule was a furniture maker of the period
of Louis XIV, who discovered a method of inlaying dark wood or
tortoise shell with brass in floral designs, vine's or wreaths. The
work was done with a saw, and some wonderfully beautiful and del-
122 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
icate results were obtained. Collectors prize good examples of Boule
work very highly.
An odd piece in the Italian collection, perhaps more odd than
beautiful, is a seventeenth century cabinet of chestnut wood, ebonized.
The front of the cabinet is in many small panels, each with an inlay
of semi-precious stones, lapis lazuli, agate, jasper, coral, marble or
other substance.
An Italian renaissance cabinet is beautifully ornamented with
ivory marquetry, and a seventeenth century cabinet bureau of wal-
nut wood is heavily carved.
The largest pieces of furniture in the gallery are of Dutch origin.
They are two enormous cabinets, one a linen press and the other a
music cabinet, both of mahogany, both standing considerably more
than six feet tall and massively carved. They date to the early
eighteenth century and are from the De Fremery collection. Holland
is also represented by an inlaid secretaire of the early eighteenth
century and a black oak wardrobe of slightly later period.
A fascinating specimen in the Oriental collection is an ancient
Japanese teakwood cabinet, 200 years old, which bears the simple
inscription: "Many secret drawers." Certainly the elaborate carving
provides a multitude of locations for hidden handles or springs.
A shrine cabinet of the Tokugawa period of Japan has doors of
lacquer with bronze panels and crests. Another lacquer cabinet was
presented by the Emporer of Japan to William Ralston Sr, on the
completion of the Palace Hotel in October, 1875.
A Spanish elaboration of the ordinary charcoal burner is the
large tarenia with copper brassero. It consists of a pedestal of dark
wood, eight-sided, with panels of inlay on top. In the center rests
a very large copper bowl of hammered workmanship, very beautifully
designed and made, with handles at the side.
Smaller objects of interest in this room include the writing desk
used by General Vallejo and presented by his heirs; an antique
Gothic coffer; Colonial mirrors and other smaller pieces.
The collection of chests and coffers is of remarkable interest and
representative display. Perhaps the most valuable and certainly the
most beautiful pieces are two Italian cassone or trousseau chests, de-
signed to hold the wedding outfits of seventeenth century Italian brides,
evidently of the nobility, since the chests are elaborate and huge.
One of these chests, some six feet long, about three feet wide and
nearly three feet high, is an elaborate gilded affair. At the corners,
winged figures serve as supports, resting on couchant lions. The
lid is heavily carved and gilded, and the sides are decorated with
painted panels representing knights and squires riding along a meadow
pathway.
The second Italian chest, slightly smaller, is even more beautiful.
It is entirely covered with an intricate hand-carved design in con-
ventional style with fleur-de-lis and lions rampant in adjoining
diamond-shaped frames. The background for these two motifs, which
are in relief, is a beautiful hammered effect. The end panels are done
in the fleur-de-lis motif. The gilding of this chest has a tinge of
copper that, with the brilliancy of the gilded relief where portions
have been rubbed bright, makes a wonderfully striking effect.
How treasures are found by accident is illustrated in the case of
one of the old German wedding chests, a fifteenth century example,
leather covered, with* mountings of hammered copper. Mr. de Young
was exploring the shop of a curio dealer in a little German city,
THE FURNITURE GALLERIES 123
searching for anything that might be of interest. He found this chest
being used as a catchall for waste paper and Junk; the dealer had
absolutely no idea of its value.
There are two seventeenth century chests from Nuremberg, both
of wood, with metal hinges and mountings.
A quaint old Norwegian wooden trunk, elaborately painted with
floral designs, bears the initials, "J. J. D. A.," and the date 1832 in
intricate scrolls on the side.
A Spanish chest of light wood, elaborately inlaid and equipped
with heavy brass hinges and feet, was brought to Mexico during the
time of Cortez in the early years of the sixteenth century.
A beautiful black and gold lacquer chest of unmistakable Oriental
origin was once the property of the Daimyo of Sendai in Japan, and
served to carry gifts to the Shogun. At each end of the chest a
square handle turns up, projecting just above the top of the chest.
Through these handles a pole was thrust along the length of the
coffer, and coolies carried the load on their shoulders — a heavy load,
if the Daimyo happened to be sending the Shogun gifts of any ap-
preciable weight.
The Mission and Pioneer Gallery
A Wealth of Material of Great Historical Value — Photo-
graphs, Engravings and Paintings of Pioneers — Relics of
Volunteer Fire-Fighting — Bells and Apparatus With a
Story Attached to Them — Relics of Early Gold Mining
and Miners — Paintings, Engravings and Relics of the
Missions.
No other gallery in the Memorial Museum is so representative in
the matter of donors as the Pioneer gallery. As soon as a place was
made available, pioneers and descendants of pioneers of San Fran-
cisco and, indeed, of the entire State, hastened to contribute their
treasures. The wealth of material relating to the early history of
San Francisco is of great value, particularly as it represents a mass
of information and an array of relics that could never be replaced
should accident destroy them.
From the beginning of the Pioneer gallery an effort has been
made to collect all possible photographs and pictures of California
pioneers. The walls of the gallery are covered with oldtime crayon
portraits, stiffly posed photographs, and oil paintings. Including the
collection of pictures representing the Exempt Firemen's Association,
and the individual pictures gathered in group photographs, it has been
estimated that the collection contains pictures of about 9000 men and
women who assisted in the early upbuilding of the city and State.
There are nearly 400 large .pictures alone.
Many noted characters of early days are represented in the pic-
tures. The earliest, perhaps, is Junipero Serra, whose portrait in
oils is placed in the annex devoted principally to Mission material.
San Franciscans, in days when the stirring events of '49 have become
dim and distant history, may gaze upon the pictures of such famous
men as "Fighting Joe" Hooker, General Bennett S. Riley, the military
Governor of California in 1849, who called the convention to frame
a constitution for the State; William T. Coleman, president of the
first Vigilance committee; Peter H. Burnett, first Governor of Cali-
fornia; Thomas Starr King, who practically kept California in the
Union; Peter Lassen, for whom Mount Lassen was named; General
J. A. Sutler of Sutter's Fort; James Marshall, discoverer of gold;
the famous financiers of early days, pioneer Congressmen and State
politicians; men who founded cities — now large and flourishing.
Picturesque events in the life of San Francisco are recalled by
such pictures as those of Samuel Tetlow, proprietor of the widely
known old Bella Union; Tiburcio Vasquez, the notorious bandit, who
was executed at San Jose in 1875, after a long struggle against the
Americans; Robert Woodward and C. J. Woodward of Woodward's
Gardens; James King of William, central figure of San Francisco's
first administrative upheaval; David C. Broderick and David Terry,
participants in the famous duel; Emperor Norton, the eccentric;
THE MISSION AND PIONEER GALLERY 125
Samuel Brannan, who brought a party of 236 persons, including many
Mormons, to San Francisco in 1846; Lola Montez, the dancer; Lan-
sisis, the Indian guide, who took the first white man into the Yosemite
in 1873, and hundreds of others.
Marble and bronze busts further portray a number of well-known
citizens, the collection including a bust modeled from the death
mask of Broderick.
Prominent in the display is the old fire engine, "Hand Engine,
No. 1," which was used by No. 5 Knickerbocker Engine Company, or-
ganized in October, 1850, with James H. Cutter as first foreman.
In those days there was no such thing as a municipal fire depart-
ment; the work was in the hands of volunteer companies, and there
was keen rivalry between them as to excellence of equipment,
efficiency of work, and so on.
This fire engine, pulled by hand, was considered the best there
was until the Monumentals, a rival company, forged ahead by pur-
chasing the first steam engine. The Knickerbockers promptly or-
dered a steam engine, but it did not arrive until 1865, and the old
hand engine stayed in service.
When William B. Fairman of the famous old Exchange saloon on
Kearny street was foreman, the steam engine appeared at last, and
the old hand machine was sold to Petaluma. There it was used for
several years until steam engines were introduced. It was kej-t in
Petaluma as a relic until January, 1920, when the citizens of Petaluma
presented it to the museum.
The greater part of the exhibit that has to do with the fire
companies of pioneer days is in the annex to the main gallery. Here
the Exempt Firemen's Association, an organization made up of mem-
bers of the old volunteer companies, has placed a large collection
of relics, including hundreds of photographs of its members, fire
helmets, belts, badges, certificates, medals, name plates from engines,
trophies, company pictures, trumpets, cups awarded for special acts
of valor, programmes of benefits and entertainments and so on.
Here is to be found the first fire bell that sounded the alarm
in San Francisco. This great bell was cast in Boston in 1853 and
immediately sent to San Francisco, where it was installed in the
tower of the City Hall, then on Kearny street in the building which
had previously been the Jenny Lind Theater. In those days there
were no fire alarm boxes nor telephone system, and the firemen
kept watch from the tower in eight-hour watches, covering the entire
day and night When a fire was seen the watchman guessed at the
district and rang the bell for the alarm, ringing the number of the
section. What happened in the case of fires that did not make them-
selves sufficiently visible to attract the attention of the watchman
may be imagined; someone tearing frantically through the streets to
give the alarm.
In April, 1906, this bell was hanging in the quarters of the Ex-
empt Firemen on Brenham place, and on the morning of April 18
rang its last alarm. Toppling from its tower the bell cracked in the
fall and was buried in the ruins. J. J. Guilfoyl, secretary of the Asso-
ciation, carefully marked the place where it was buried, and when the
lot was cleared and graded, rescued the bell for presentation to the
museum.
The bell bears the inscription: "Cast ly Henry H. Hooper Com-
pany, Boston, 1853. San Francisco Fire Department, Organized 1850.
George H. Hossefross, Chief Engineer."
126 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Another bell of great interest is the old Oregon bell, the clamor
of which told San Franciscans the news that California had been
admitted to the Union. The bell was on the steamer Oregon, which
brought the news. As she passed through the Golden Gate her
whistle was tied down and this bell was clanging furiously. Later
the Oregon was converted into a barkentine and operated in coast-
wise lumber trade. The bell was taken out at Puget Sound and
placed at the door of the cookhouse in Charles Adams' Company's
mill at Seabeck, where for several years it performed the humble
service of calling the millworkers to meals. Later it was sent to
Port Hadlock mill for similar service. In 1913 the historic value of
the bell was recognized, and, traveling in state aboard the steamer
Umatilla, it came to San Francisco to be placed in the museum.
A curious relic is a large bowl of earthenware, evidently of Chi-
nese make. It was found thirty feet underground when excavations
were in progress for a building at Battery and Commercial streets, and
since the building originally on that site had stood there for years,
the bowl must have been buried long ago. It is an enormous affair, the
size of a washtub, and of a curious green shade from its long
burial.
Relics of the old seafaring days are found in the safe from the
office of the Ladies' Seamen's Friend Society of the Port of San
Francisco, an organization which flourished in 1852; the slab from
the old Seamen's Home, and a fascinating old register from the Sail-
ors' Home, covering the period of January, 1857, to January, 1862.
It is notable that the most of the entries, in which the name of the
man is followed by that of his ship, the vessels are sailing ships,
steamers being comparatively few. The old records are full of
human interest in the brief notes that accompany the entries: "left
without paying," "left for the mines," and so on.
The beginning of transcontinental railroading is shown in the
picture, "Driving the Last Spike," painted by Thomas Hill at the
order of Leland Stanford in 1876. It shows the scene at the driving
of the last spike to connect the Union and Central Pacific Railroads
on May 10, 1869, at Promontory, Utah, in sight of the Great Salt
Lake. The work was begun by Charles Crocker, turning the first
shovelful of earth at Sacramento on May 12, 1864. The last spike
was driven by Senator Stanford, who occupies a prominent position in
the center of the picture, sledge in hand. The picture is notable
less for artistic value than from the fact that the men and women
portrayed are those who actually attended the ceremony, and the
faces are their portraits.
"Days of old, days of gold," are made vivid by a collection of old-
time mining tools, a rocker, a prospecting pan that has evidently seen
hard usage, a broken shovel and other tools; photographs of Sutter's
Fort, the scene of the discovery; autographs of Marshall and his com-
panions; old scales for the weighing of gold dust; money belts, and
coin sacks used by the early express companies, and many documents
and clippings relating to the gold discovery and the following gold
rush. A rude washboard used In a mining camp suggests the primi-
tive housekeeping of the miners.
The first printing press set up in San Francisco is now in the
museum. It is an early type of the Hoe press, worked with a screw, and
was brought around the Horn by Samuel Brannan in 1846. On it was
printed the first newspaper to be issued in the State, "The Californian,"
published at Monterey on August 15, 1846. Set up in an old grist mill
THE MISSION AND PlONEER GALLERY 127
in San Francisco, the press was used to print proclamations, official
documents and other material. In 1850 it was sent to Marysville, and
in 1852 to Auburn, where it was nised to print the Placer Herald. J.
A. Filcher donated it to the museum.
An interesting relic is the first public clock in San Francisco,
which, for years held its place in the tower of the building at 425
Montgomery street. It was brought across Panama by Alexander
Austin in 1852. The face of the clock is of glass and the numerals
are gilt.
In the cases in the Pioneer gallery is a vast quantity of miscella-
neous material relating to the early history of the city and State. Thou-
sands of documents of all descriptions are there, ranging from elec-
tion material of the first elections to theater programmes and ban-
quet menus. It seems as if there could not have been a public occa-
sion of any description in San Francisco which was not commemorated
by some one who kept the programme, ticket, announcement or news-
paper clipping and later presented it to the museum.
City administrative material is also largely represented, includ-
ing such items as pioneer proclamations, official publications, codes
of city ordinances, etc. There is also a quantity of early financial
and commercial material, such as checks, receipts, deeds, orders, con-
tracts and so on.
Among these is what is probably the first labor contract made
with a Chinese. It is a contract drawn up at Hongkong on July 26,
1849, between Jacob P. Leese of San Francisco, and Anye, a Chinese,
the latter agreeing to ship on the vessel, Eveline, to San Francisco,
there to serve as a tailor for three years for $15 a month, with an
advance of $30.
The history of San Francisco transportation is shown in the col-
lection of material referring to early street car systems, particularly
that contributed by George Wicks, who, at the time of his death, in
November, 1912, was the oldest street railway employe in California,
beginning his service when there was one horse car line out Mission
street.
Cartoons by E. Jump, a well-known cartoonist of 1865-1866, show
picturesque characters of that period, such as "Emperor" Norton,
Washington Coombs, who looked and dressed like Washington, the
Gutter Snipe, who gathered cigar ends; Hungry Joe, who always car-
ried crackers in his pockets; the Horrible Turk, who went about in
Turkish costume; Belle Cora, wife of Charles Cora; Rosy, the tramp;
the Great Unknown, a famous mystery man; Miser Phil, and many
others.
A valuable collection includes the Vallejo relics, presented by the
heirs of General Vallejo, and including epaulets, hat and shoulder
straps, saddle blankets gold embroidered, saddle ornaments, gold dust
scales, account book, etc.
Vallejo (1808-1890) was an officer of the Mexican army during
the temporary independence of Alta California. In 1837 he was mili-
tary head of that government. He surrendered to Fremont and was
confined for six days at Sutter's Fort, then released on parole, and
took no further part in operations against the Americans. For a time
he was the wealthiest land owner in California. Vallejo street in San
Francisco, and the town of Vallejo bear his name.
Other interesting relics are a handful of iron spikes taken from
the hull of an old ship uncovered, October 26, 1911, while excavating
for a building at Battery and Clay streets. The ancient wreck of oak
128 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
timbers is believed to have been the Spanish ship El Carlos or El Fili-
pino, one of the first ships to sail through the Golden Gate. There
were two Spanish vessels named El Carlos, one a packet boat that
plied between San Diego and Monterey, and the other a ship built to
carry on explorations and visit the Philippines. This transpacific
duty gave her her alternative name. According to the best authori-
ties, it was this latter vessel which was wrecked in March, 1797, lying
undiscovered under the silt and sand of the lower section of the city
until 1911. El Filipino, built at San Bias, is mentioned in records of
1788 as being in the far north, investigating reported activities of
Russians. She is referred to by Vancouver in his reports. In March,
1797, she set sail from the Spanish port of San Francisco for San Bias,
struck on the rocks under Point Bonita, and sprung a leak. Water
gained rapidly, say the old records, and she was run ashore close
under what is now the southern limit of Telegraph Hill, and then was
a rocky point, projecting into the bay. It was in this locality that
the relics were found.
Souvenirs of the reckless days of bandits and highwaymen are
plentiful. There is a cut-off Colt, used by Charles F. Bludworth, one
of the posse which took Joaquin Murietta and Manuel Garcia, the
famous bandits. Bludworth claimed that a shot from his pistol brought
down Murietta, but there are other claimants for the distinction of
ending the career of the notorious bandit.
Another grim relic is a rusty knife of the type carried by miners
and frontiersmen, which, according to the donor, A. Madsen, was found
thrust between the ribs of a skeleton in a lonely spot near the' summit
of Mount Rainier. Some tragedy of long ago is hinted in the worn
old knife.
The Vigilance committees and their activities are commemorated
by many relics. There are certificates of membership in the Vigil-
antes, photographs of such memorable scenes as the execution of Casey
and Cora, pieces of rope used by the hangman, wood from the "execu-
tion tree" at Hangtown, the grim name of which was later changed
to the milder title of Placerville; documents, personal relics and other
material.
Military organizations are represented by many souvenirs, such
as certificates of membership in the first California National Guard,
commission, photographs, flags and trophies, with several quaint old
drawings showing the companies at drill. Two historic flags are the
Bear flag from Sonoma county and the Stars and Stripes carried by
the New York company of volunteers in the Mexican war of 1848. Old
Mexican weapons in the collection were dug up in Portsmouth Square
and the surrounding district, buried there when the approach of the
Americans threatened.
The principal feature of the Mission collection is the series of
twenty-one paintings by Oriana Day, presented by Mrs. Eleanor Mar-
tin. These depict the California Missions, not in their present state
of ruin, but as they were in their grandeur. The paintings were done
in the years between 1867 and 1884, and the artist drew for material
on old woodcuts, information from persons who remembered the
glorious days of the Missions, and inspection of buildings then stand-
ing but now fallen into ruin. Padres, Indians and other figures of
the period are used to give life to the compositions. The collection is
valued at $12,000.
Other paintings show characteristic scenes in Mission life, and
numerous models, photographs, fragments of tile and articles made by
Mission neophytes help to visualize the life of the Missions.
THE MISSION AND PIONEER GALLERY 129
The museum is also fortunate in possessing the Cowan collection
of books and manuscripts relating to the early history of California.
This collection, containing 4000 specimens, is the largest private col-
lection of the kind in existence. In it are many valuable books and
unpublished manuscripts, such as Spanish diaries, reports and letters
from explorers and missionaries.
The Sutter heirs have contributed valuable relics of General J. A.
Sutter, including paintings, albums, documents and other material,
especially relating to the discovery of gold.
California Wood Exhibit
Polished Slabs From California Trees — Huge Slab From
Sequoia — Models of Indian Villages.
Lining the walls of one of the galleries of the old unit are specimens
of the woods produced by California trees. These polished slabs illustrate
the varying types of wood and the beautiful veining that may be
adapted to decorative uses.
Conspicuous in the exhibit is a huge slab cut from a California
giant Sequoia. The section was cut vertically down the tree, evi-
dently near the base, and shows the slope of the sides. In its present
state it measures 16 feet 9 inches across, but the thick bark, now re-
moved, must have added at least two or three feet more.
Another notable object is a section of a huge redwood burl, or
knot, several feet in diameter and beautifully grained.
The woods are arranged by classes — oak, walnut, cedars and so on.
The trees represented include redwood, birdseye maple, cedar, alder,
sugar pine, white cedar, Spanish cedar, laurel, wild cherry, white oak,
black oak, chestnut oak, live oak, sycamore, camphor, locust, eucalyptus,
myrtle, walnut and others.
The floor space of this gallery is occupied by a number of excellent
models of Arizona Indian pueblos.
Capitals, rosettes, bits of frieze and other decorative objects carved
from California wood, fragments of massive redwood bark, examples
of the bark of other trees, and several slabs of wood, in which the
graining has taken curious forms, resembling animals or human beings,
are also shown.
The Nautical Gallery
Models of Ships and Relics of the Sea With a Historical
Value — Photographs and Maps — Engravings of Old
Ships and Figureheads.
Intimately linked with San Francisco's history and her character
as a great seaport city is the collection housed in the nautical gallery, a
collection including models of ships, relics of old seafaring days, articles
of great historical value, and many photographs and paintings of San
Francisco harbor and the ships that sailed in and out.
How the nautical gallery came into being was told by Mr. de Young
In a speech some time ago.
"About two years ago," he said, "an idea struck me that because
San Francisco was a great shipping port with a great harbor in which
ships are lying all the time, and large enough to hold the entire mer-
chant fleet of the world, we ought to be able to get together a won-
derful collection of nautical material. This idea took root, and I made
up my mind that we would have a nautical room. I sent out a number
of letters to our shipping men, retired shipowners, sea captains and
a number of our citizens who are interested in navigation, and asked
them if they would help me get together a collection for this room.
"The result has been that there is now quite an exhibit that is
steadily growing. We have models of yachts, tank steamers, old sailing
ships, passenger steamers of the huge modern type, and also a collection
of pictures of ships.
"Did it ever occur to you why men ever made models of ships?
Many years ago, when they built ships manned by oars, called galleys,
they used to build their ships as artistically as possible, and as they im-
proved on them there was considerable competition in making the most
beautiful vessels. It became the custom to make models of ships before
starting to build the ship itself, instead of merely drawing plans, as
they do today.
"You have seen pictures of the old admirals in their quaint old
uniforms looking at and arguing over the relative merits of these
models. Designers, hoping to please the authorities, made their models
things of beauty, their bows carved and decorated, and every detail
complete."
It was in March, 1919, that Mr. de Young wrote his letters of in-
quiry to shipping firms and individuals. His idea was to obtain as
many models and photographs as possible of craft that have plied in
the waters of San Francisco bay, on the rivers that flow into it, vessels
which were built here or which sailed from this port to foreign
countries.
Unfortunately a number of the firms appealed to could only re-
spond that their models and photographs had been destroyed in the fire
of 1906, but they unanimously pledged whatever co-operation would be
possible, and those which still kept possession of relics of interest
readily gave them for the collection.
THE NAUTICAL GALLERY 131
Among the firms assisting in the preparation of the nautical exhibit
were the Robert Dollar Company, Balfour, Guthrie & Co., Standard
Oil Company, Union Iron Works, General Petroleum Company, Southern
Pacific, Pope-Talbot Company; Toyo Risen Kaisha, Bethlehem Ship-
building Corporation, Charles Nelson Lumber Company, Compagnie
Generale Transatlantique, J. R. Hanify Company, Oceanic Steamship
Company, Pacific Mail Steamship Company. In addition to these, many
individuals, retired shipowners, sea captains and others gave liberally.
A dozen models of ships, ranging from the clumsy Chinese junk to
the latest word in passenger steamers, occupy places of honor in
the room.
Notable among them is the model of the Standard Oil tanker Rich-
mond, built of papier-mache, on the exact scale of one-fourth inch to
the foot, weighing 250 pounds, and representing ten months of work on
the part of the builder. The particular feature of the model is the
fact that the starboard side of -the hull is cut away, showing the in-
terior of the vessel in complete detail, oil tanks, cabins and their fit-
tings, even to the blankets on the bunks, and the engine room, with
engines accurately reproduced in minute perfection. Marine engineers
who have inspected this model declare that the miniature engine room
needs only steam to make it work. So complete is the model that a
study of its structure will serve almost as well as a visit to the
actual ship.
The Richmond, the original of this model, has a most interesting
history. She sailed from San Francisco on February 20, 1915, laden
with 60,000 barrels of oil and towing the barge S. 0. Co. No. 95, laden
with 50,000 barrels. She was absent from her home port 496 days, cov-
ering, with her tow, about 75,000 miles. This mileage was achieved by
making seven trips between New York and London and a return voyage
to San Francisco by way of the Horn, with a little jaunt across the
Pacific to Shanghai and Singapore before finally sighting the Golden
Gate. During these voyages she delivered 770,000 barrels of oil to
the allies.
The Richmond holds the record for the longest non-stop tow, 14,000
miles, from New York to Singapore, which she made in sixty-two days,
at an average of 9.4 nautical miles an hour. She is now in service on
the Pacific Coast.
Another model of very different type, but of unusual interest,
is the wood and ivory model of the Three Brothers, whose history dates
to the Civil War. Originally Vanderbilt's private yacht, the Three
Brothers was turned over to the Government during the Civil War and
put into service. Soon after the close of the war she was sent to the
Pacific Coast. For a time she lay at the Mare Island Navy Yard, and
was finally sold to George Howes & Co. In the Howes dock, at the
foot of Market street, she was rebuilt into a square-rigged vessel and
took the seas again as a four-masted bark, then the largest sailing
vessel flying the American flag. The final chapter in her history was
written when she was sold to an English firm, and her name was
changed to the Emma.
The museum model, beautifully carved of wood, with blocks, mast-
heads, fittings and other details of ivory, shows the Three Brothers as
a square-rigged ship.
Another old-time sailing vessel that is represented by a model
and also by photographs is the Great Republic, the famous clipper
ship of the '50s. The model, carved from wood, is a beautiful piece of
work, very evidently made by some one who knew and loved ships.
132 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
All rigging is complete and the sails, properly weather worn, are furled
on the yards, not taut and trim, but hastily clewed up, as if the ship
might just have made port.
The Great Republic was built in Boston in 1853 and arrived in
San Francisco in 1856, after a record-breaking voyage around the
Horn. A newspaper clipping of that year gives an account of the voyage
and the ship that reads like a breath from the days of the tea clippers
and "running down the easting."
"The celebrated clipper ship, Great Republic, Captain Limeburner,
arrived yesterday in ninety-one days from New York, having made the
fifth best voyage between the two ports. The Great Republic is a
mammoth ship, measuring 3337 tons, but carrying more than 5000 tons
of assorted cargo. On her present voyage she was fifteen days and
eighteen hours to the Line, beating the best previous record by thirty
hours. She was forty-six days to the Horn and seventy-three days to
the Equator in the Pacific, and eighteen days from there to the Heads,
making the whole voyage in ninety-one days.
"The Great Republic is 325 feet long, rigged with four masts and
draws twenty-four feet of water. One great feature of the vessel's sail-
ing is that during the whole voyage she has not had her topsails taKen
in, no matter how hard the wind blew. She came round the Horn with
skysails set fore and aft, rolling off the log at from twelve to fifteen
knots per hour. Her best day's run was 417 miles."
There is an epic of the sea in that sentence, "She came round
the Horn with skysails set fore and aft." It is easy to imagine that
Captain Limeburner was something of a sail-carrier; but the Great
Republic was an able ship and she came nobly through the bleak seas
of the Horn. The quaint old picture shows her with every inch of
canvas spread, and on the model one may see those very skysails,
snugged down now, but not hard to picture spread taut to catch the
roaring southern gales or the steady winds of the trades.
Modern times are reached once more with the steamship models.
The largest of them is the model of the Tenyo Maru, one of the Toyo
Kisen Kaisha boats, listed at 21,000 tons — a vivid contrast to the 3337
tons of the "mammoth ship," the Great Republic.
The Compagnie General Transatlantique contributed a model of
the S. S. France, 22,500 tons, and 720 feet long, more than twice the
length of the Great Republic and nearly seven times her tonnage.
The S. S. Marie, from the Oceanic Steamship Company, is a model
made by W. J. Owens.
Turning from these polished, perfect models of giant liners, one
comes to the three-masted bark, Alice Buck, a model painstakingly
carved from wood by Captain Jabez Snow in 1874. H. M. Tomlinson,
himself a lover of ships and a master of words in which to praise them,
in "Old Junk," quotes these words from Stevenson's "Ebb Tide": "Noth-
ing so affecting as ships. The ruins of an empire would leave me
frigid, when a bit of an old rail that an old shellback had leaned on in
the middle watch would bring me UD all standing."
So, perfect and faultless as the shining models of the great liners
may be, the lover of ships will dwell rather on the picture of Captain
Jabez Snow in 1874, whittling away at the model of a ship that he must
have known in fair weather and foul, in smooth seas and stormy — the
Alice Buck.
Back to modern times the visitor is drawn by the next model —
the S. S. Peru, shown lying in the hydraulic dry docks of the Union Iron
THE NAUTICAL GALLERY 133
Works, so that one may study the method of shoring up a ship pre-
paratory to work on her.
Two large models are those of the S. S. Imperator and Victoria
Luise, giants among the surrendered German liners. The Imperator
was the first vessel to be surrendered to the Americans under the
terms of the armistice and was the first German ship to sail for the
United States under the American flag. She arrived in New York in
May, 1919, carrying 4000 passengers, including returning troops, war
brides, official dignitaries and others.
There is an interesting model of the frigate James Monroe, show-
ing the typical gun ports in her lofty sides.
Oriental methods of water travel are shown in two models of
Chinese junks, one an elaborate affair, carved from teakwood, and
manned by a piratical crew of Chinese. This is the type of vessel used
by the Chinese river and shore pirates, and many an unlucky vessel
has read her doom in the approach of just such a clumsy craft.
Another Oriental craft is the casco, or Filipino small boat, such
as is used on the river at Manila for traffic with ships lying in the
stream or by the natives for river travel. During the Filipino insur-
rection the natives, fighting against the Americans, used this type of
craft for their maneuvers. It is a canoe-shaped affair, clumsily built,
with sagging matting awnings.
Many relics of old-time ships are finding their place in the Memo-
rial Museum, as well as souvenirs of important events that have to
do with the sea. One of the most remarkable relics is the battered
life belt from the steamship Stanley Dollar. This tangle of broken
cordage and cork has made one of the most astonishing journeys re-
corded for a bit of flotsam. The Stanley Dollar was wrecked at the
entrance to Tokio bay, Japan. Six years later the life belt was
picked up on the coast of Papa Stour, Shetland Islands, halfway around
the globe from the Japanese bay where it was flung into the sea. How
the belt traveled the thousands of miles between Japan and the Shetland
Islands, whether it went through the Northwest passage or by some un-
discovered route, is a secret that it will never tell.
The student of the lines of ships may find interesting material
in the half-hull models of passenger steamers, naval vessels and racing
yachts, showing the varying types of hull line followed by the de-
signers.
A rare treasure of this exhibit is a worn, battered piece of wood,
a timber about eight feet long and some two feet thick, one end curved
sharply upward. Many museums would install a special case to hold
a fragment of this timber, and, indeed, the Memorial Museum for years
treasured a bit of the wood in another collection before a recheck of
exhibits disclosed the presence of the larger specimen.
The timber is the stem of the Natalie, the vessel on which Napoleon
voyaged from Elba to France to begin the stormy time of the Hundred
Days. Jt was a curious coincidence that brought the Natalie's stem to
San Francisco. In 1843 a vessel went ashore at Monterey bay, thou-
sands of miles from the scene of the historic voyage to the shores of
France, and only a few miles from San Francisco. She was the Natalie,
and this fragment of her stem, cast up by the waves, passed through
many vicissitudes before finding a peaceful resting place in the museum.
Relics of another wreck are the escutcheon and bottle rack flung
ashore from a Norwegian vessel wrecked on the Pacific Coast.
Somewhere off the Alaskan coast a whaler was battered to pieces
years ago. Her sea-worn anchor, red with rust, now lies in the museum,
134 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
a mute relic of long battles with sea and storm. Other relics of the
old whaling days are an old whale gun and harpoon, and a diver's air
pump and helmet in the style of years ago suggest sunken wrecks and
lost treasure.
An old-time sailing vessel once answered to the spin of the tall
pilot wheel that stands among the nautical exhibits, a wheel worn by
the grip of hard-fisted sailors, standing their trick.
The historic voyage of the Gjoa, the stanch little sloop that, with
Captain Roald Amundsen in command, pioneered the Northwest passage,
is commemorated by the presence of the Gjoa's propeller and other
relics. The Gjoa herself is in Golden Gate Park, close by the sound of
the surf, but when weather shall have battered her and age has weak-
ened her sound timbers, her fragments will still be in the museum.
One finds there, too, the tiller ropes and escutcheon from the cap-
tain's gig of the Pensacola, used years ago as a training ship at Yerba
Buena. Later naval vessels are recalled by the collection of christening
ribbons from United States vessels launched at the Union Iron Works,
including several ships that won distinction in naval operations.
An old masthead lantern, the battered old lamp headlight from the
once proud and mighty Pacific Mail steamer, City of Peking, and a
crude hanging lamp that long ago hung from the beams of a ship's
cabin and swung to and fro with the roll of the seas, are there, and in
contrast to these remembrances of days on salt water is a tiny model
airplane, built by W. A. H. Kohler of Redwood City from fragments of
the planes used by Beachey, Pettirossi, Niles, Christofferson, Sutro, Art
Smith and Rybitski, great names in the history of California aviation.
The nautical exhibit is unusually rich in pictures, particularly in
old-line engravings and photographs of ships of years ago and in the
collection of San Francisco water front maps and drawings.
Transpacific passengers, who now embark on great liners for the
voyage to the Orient, will look with interest and probably not alto-
gether with regret for the passing of the old days, on the pictures
of the Pacific Mail fleet that plied Pacific waters in years gone by.
The steamers are side-wheelers, clumsy of line as compared to the slim
ocean racers of today, and they suggest anything but an easy passage
from coast to coast.
There also are many pictures or famous ships of the early days,
scenes of shipwreck, photographs of present day vessels and harbor
scenes.
An interesting display is the collection of photographs of ships'
figureheads, taken by L. S. Slevin, and showing the elaborately carved
figureheads of American and British ships that lay in San Francisco
bay twenty years ago. Few ships today carry the bow adornment that
distinguished the vessels of former years, so that these photographs of
figures in flowing drapery, admirals in uniform, or strange and rampant
animals possess additional historical interest.
The collection of old maps and water front pictures is worthy of
much study. Visitors who know San Francisco's water front only as it
is today may find it difficult to imagine the bustling life of the crowded
wharves replaced by the lonely solitudes of 1849, when the shore of the
bay was a stretch of land almost in its primitive wilderness, crossed
by a few rude streets with dim trails leading to the distant fastnesses
of the Mission and the Presidio.
The younger generation, hearing old-timers talk of the time "when
the water came up to Montgomery street" and, in the presence of the
solidity of the Embarcadero, perhaps believing the phrase a bit of im-
THE NAUTICAL GALLERY 135
agination, will find in the nautical room an ancient print showing San
Francisco from the bay — and Montgomery street, so marked on the map,
forms the actual water front. This is a very rare sketch, by the way,
drawn on the spot in 1847, and the only known copy. San Francisco
is shown as some twenty scattered buildings, the custom-house, the
school, the general store, the "calaboose" — so designated — and n few
houses. In the bay are shown, lying at anchor, the United States
transports Loo Choo, Susan Drew and Thomas H. Perkins, the ships
which brought the 1st Regiment, New York Volunteers, Colonel J. D.
Stevenson commanding, to take part in the action against the Mexicans.
These transports are very different from the steel-gray ships, with their
funnel bands of red, white and blue, that now carry American troops.
They are sailing vessels, of course, of only moderate size, and one
imagines that the New York soldiers must have had a lively voyage
around the Horn.
The sketch is officially certified as correct by Colonel Stevenson,
General Vallejo and George Hyde, the first alcalde of the district of San
Francisco.
Many more maps and sketches of similar type adorn the walls;
views of the "Lombard, North Point and Greenwich docks," with the
Great Republic and other vessels discharging cargo and San Francis-
cans in the garb of the '60s promenading on the slope above the docks
to watch the work; other bay views and sketches of the city, and a col-
lection of maps of the period of 1720-1749, which show California as an
island. The oldest map in the collection is one of America, circa 1680-
1693, which shows the Western Continent, the home of the "salvages," in
strange form.
Indian Basket Collection
Distinctive Specimens of Many Tribes — Work of Western
Indians Principally Represented — Baskets So Small They
Are Bottled — Baskets That Hold Water — Alaskan
Indian Basketry.
In another generation, say those who have studied the subject,
the beautiful art of basket weaving among the Indian tribes will be
forgotten and such collections as that in the Memorial Museum will
be the only relic of a once flourishing industry that embodied tribal
traditions.
Already, in many tribes, the secret of weaving the satin-smooth,
wonderfully designed baskets of graceful shape is known only to a
few old women, who alone remember the ancient art of extracting
from bark or roots the imperishable colors that adorn the older
work. Cheap chemical dyes satisfy the more impatient younger
basket weavers; they choose showy and easily woven designs, no
longer willing to undertake the laborious stitch by stitch weaving
of the intricate patterns that to the student of basketry spell the
legends of the tribe. Once the Apaches made baskets of beautiful
texture and design; now the younger women complain that the stiff
reeds hurt their hands, and only a few old women still practice the art.
The perfection of the work done by the old basket makers is
amazing, even to students of the art, when the simplicity and crude-
ness of the implements used are considered. The experienced basket
maker, equipped with a pile of flexible twigs or reeds, slender grasses
from the marsh, perhaps a handful of feathers for decoration and a
rude knife and a pointed bone awl for her only tools, is ready to
produce the symmetrical and beautiful baskets, such as those which
are treasured in the Museum. Her baskets are shaped over whatever
is convenient; perhaps over her own bent knee or over a rounded
stone. No pattern guides her in the intricacy of the design except
the traditions of generations of weavers before her. For the colors
of her design she chooses the natural-colored fibers of wild grass or
shrubs, or resorts to the dyes extracted from alder bark or other
vegetable substances. The Northern California basket maker some-
times provides a scarlet dye by chewing the red-tinged alder bark
and drawing the grasses or ferns of her weaving through her mouth
as she works.
The Museum baskets are principally representative of the work
of the Western tribes, especially in California and Arizona, with some
specimens of Alaskan work and a few Eastern baskets. The collection
includes hundreds of baskets, ranging in size from the miniature
Porno specimen, one-eighth of an inch in diameter, to large plaques
and bowls, and in design from the simple, plain patterns for every
day use to the elaborate feather-decorated baskets of the Pomos.
These decorative examples are from Lake county, and the baskets
are adorned both with color weaving and with featherwork. As is
commonly the case in Indian decoration, whether it is found on
r~
M V^*'10'^ .^A
Above — Two of the four famous Dresden vases depicting the four elements, with
other examples of Meissen ware.
Below — Mantel set. Specimens of bronze and porcelain decorated Sevres ware.
European Ceramic Gallery.
INDIAN BASKET COLLECTION 137
baskets, beadwork or blanket weaving, the designs and colors are
symbolical. The red in the baskets signifies bravery and pride;
yellow, success and fidelity; blue, cunning; green, watchfulness; black,
conjugal love and beauty; white, riches and generosity. The materials
used are maidenhair fern, desert agave, red and white alder, Indian
hemp, wormwood, false saffron, California lilac, red rose and willow,
and the feathers of the mallard duck, oriole, meadow lark and quail
are used in the decoration. Several of the baskets are beaded.
The Porno work is known for its delicate thread-like weave in
addition to the tendency toward elaborate ornamentation. The feathers,
as may be seen in some of the museum specimens, are sometimes so
delicately applied that they form a fur-like nap over the entire surface,
almost like the Mexican feather work. The finer baskets are often
studded with bangles of shell or glass beads and pendants of abalone
shell or rows of wampum.
A Porno squaw made for C. P. Wilcomb, the Museum's first
curator, several of the miniature baskets that are so tiny that they
are exhibited in a slender glass bottle. Two of the baskets are half
an inch in diameter, one is a quarter of an inch across and the
smallest is an eighth of an inch. Wilcomb had the patience to count
the stitches, and found 1200 in the half-inch baskets and 300 in the
smallest. Other miniature baskets, about the size of a pea, were made
by squaws of the Passamaquoddy tribe of New Brunswick.
An interesting Porno basket, beaded and decorated with shells
and red feathers, was used as a sacrificial basket. It was presented
to a young Indian as a wedding gift from his mother and was intended
to be burned at his death.
The Pimas of Arizona, whose work is well represented, make their
baskets on a foundation of split cattail stems and the sewing is done
with willow and martynia in very fine stitches with a smooth effect.
Pima decoration is always elaborate.
The art of basketry is said to have been taught to the Pimas a
century ago when the Maricopas, fleeing from the Yumas, sought
shelter among them. At that time the Pimas made pottery but no
baskets. Now the Maricopas, their teachers, have completely lost the
art of basketry and make pottery only.
The Indians of Northern California, along the Klamath river :u
Humboldt and Siskiyou counties, use hazel twigs, sour grass, roots of
young pines, maidenhair fern, chain or woodwardia fern and some-
times bird quills in their work. The weave is generally fine, the color
bright and the design artistic.
In Tulare, Fresno, Mariposa and Mono counties, where the tribes
are approaching extinction, the art of basketry is nearly lost. Older
specimens are very rare and valuable, sometimes sold for as much as
$100. Baskets made by these tribes are noted for their smooth finish
both inside and out and are usually watertight. The rich amber tone
of the best examples is due to age and usage.
An interesting basket from this district in the Museum is the
gambling or dice tray. It is a large flat circular basket with a
raised edge. The dice are half shells of walnuts filled with asphaltum,
in which small glass beads or bits of abalone shells are set. The
surface of the shells is polished. Gambling among the California
Indians was principally a woman's game, played by two or four squaws.
The old devices, such as this basket, are now obsolete, as the Indians
have become thoroughly conversant with the white men's games.
Unusual baskets were made by the Klickitat tribe, Indians who
138 M. H. DK YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
lived along the cascades of the Columbia and were sometimes called
the Iroquois of the Northwest. They were very warlike and hostile,
and a constant menace to travelers and traders. Their baskets were
durable and tough, so made to withstand the hard life and constant
travel of the tribe. The material was usually spruce and cedar roots,
soaked sometimes for months to render them pliable.
The Aleuts of the northern coasts made baskets of very fine
grass with a finish like tapestry.
Delicate workmanship, good shape and artistic ornamentation
characterize the baskets made by the Tlinket Indians of Southern
Alaska. A typical feature is the false embroidery in grasses and
plant stems, the effect being produced by working the design halfway
through the' basket, giving a varied effect on the outside, while the
inside is plain1 or banded.
These are the principal types of baskets represented in the mu-
seum collection, although there are individual specimens from other
tribes and districts.
American Indian and Alaskan Gallery
Bead Work of Various Tribes — Totem Poles — Indian
Carvings — Alaskan Kayaks — Dress of Warriors — Drums
— War Bonnets — Work of California Indians — Stone
Relics From Mounds.
Comanche war bonnets and Alaskan kayak paddles, Pawnee bead-
work and Catalina island stone mortars, war drums from the plains
and a totem pole from Wrangel are exhibited side by side in the com-
prehensive and valuable collection of work done by the native tribes
of North America. Particularly complete is the representation of
California Indian work, both ancient and modern, and there is an
excellent display of Alaskan material. Through the donation of sev-
eral large collections made by private individuals, the work of the
plains Indians and the tribes from farther east is also available for
contrast with the handiwork of the Western natives.
The Alaskan collection has been largely augmented by the gifts
of sea captains and sailors who visited that far northern country and
brought back with them specimens of native work. A large number
of articles were contributed by Peter Wellnitz of Sausalito, who ob-
tained them from the sailors of the Gjoa, Amundsen's sloop, that made
the Northwest Passage. Arriving in San Francisco in 1908, the Gjoa
lay for two weeks at Sausalito, and the sailors, who had profited by
their expedition through the far north to gather a miscellaneous col-
lection of native articles, eagerly traded them for the products of
civilization. Native kayaks and paddles, weapons, cooking utensils,
wearing apparel woven from Arctic moss and made from skins and
pelts, ornaments carved from the teeth of polar bears, walrus tusks
and the bones of the whale and seal, mineral specimens and many
other articles eventually reached the museum in this way.
The Alaskan natives are noted for their carvings, particularly in
the yellowish ivory of the north. Many of their smaller household
utensils are carved from walrus tusks or seal bones, and their work,
while crude artistically, is unique and interesting.
One of the features of the Alaskan exhibit is the totem pole
which was brought from Wrangel and secretly taken from the country
because of the reluctance of the natives to allow their tribal treasures
to leave the country. The pole stands eighteen feet high and is three
feet thick at the base, a solid cedar block weighing about a ton. At
the base is a shark's head, above that a bear sitting on his haunches
and holding a man, head downward; still higher a whale, with an
eagle topping the whole. According to Alexander Badlam, an au-
thority on Alaskan lore, the totem indicated the tribe. The Alaskans
were divided into five nations, and these were sub-divided into tribes
with the families as the final subdivision. Each family possessed a
special badge in the form of an animal or bird, and the combination
of badges on the totem pole formed a system corresponding to the
quartering of arms in European heraldry. Tribal rule forbade inter-
140 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
marriage between persons having the same badge; a bear might marry
an eagle, but marriage between two bears was forbidden, thus pro-
viding for the maintenance of family strength as well as serving the
ends of tribal alliance.
The general collection of Alaskan material covers every phase of
family and tribal life. The display includes many native costumes,
parkas of fur, skin and one made of the breasts of wild fowl; fur
boots; weapons of all descriptions, such as bows and arrows, spears,
clubs, especially those for seal killing; household utensils and im-
plements made of stone, wood or ivory; knives, adzes, fishing ma-
terial, harpoons, sleigh runners, dog harness, ornaments, pipes, combs,
snuff boxes, dishes, spoons, charms, buttons, darts, etc.
Several typical Alaskan kayaks illustrate the method of navigation
used by the northern tribes.
Particularly interesting is the collection of beadwork representa-
tive of many American Indian tribes. There are specimens of work
done by members of the Nez Perce, Sioux, Shoshone, Pawnee, Pah-
Ute or Piute Dakota, Crow, Sac-Fox, Apache, Arapahoe, Comanche and
other tribes, showing the characteristic work of each section of the
country.
Indian beadworkers did more than merely arranging the beads in a
design pleasing to the eye, for, like the designs of Indian basketry,
the bead patterns tell a story easily understandable to those who have
studied the symbols. The owner's name, particular exploits, family
history or other details were often worked into the beads of an armlet
or necklace.
Some years ago the museum was fortunate enough to obtain the
assistance of Joseph P. Myers, a half-breed Piute, who was then serving
as a private in the Hospital Corps of the Army and was stationed at
San Francisco. Myers, whose native name is given in museum rec-
ords as Shokokum Muzzi, was familiar with the symbols of the Piutes
and other tribes, and translated a number of the designs.
An armlet of blue, gold and pink beads, for example, informs the
expert that it was the property of a young Piute squaw, the belle of
her tribe and a coquette who numbered many suitors among the
Piute bucks. A heavy black bead necklace belonged to an Indian
prophetess who acted as principal mourner at the funerals of chiefs,
and added beads to her necklace to commemorate these occasions.
Another bit of beadwork belonged to a young warrior, moderately dis-
tinguished in battle, who had been given his name because of his
mother's dream of a fight between two gigantic fish.
Numerous articles of native wearing apparel are included in the
collection, notably a beautiful and very valuable -squaw's costume,
representative of Piute work. It is made of the finest dressed deer-
skin, heavily embroidered with beads and quills.
A Comanche war shirt of buckskin ornamented with scalp locks
has an interesting history. It was once the property of a Comanche
warrior whose prowess in battle may be judged from the number of
the adornments on his war shirt. Experience of the white man's
ways, however, induced a change of heart, and the garment was sold
to G. W. Ingalls, an active worker among the Indians, as evidence that
the one-time warrior contemplated a peaceful life. A few years later
the former fighter was living on his own little farm in a house built
after the fashion of the whites and on the road to becoming a pros-
perous farmer.
A Nez Perce medicine or war drum is a similar symbol of the
giving up of old ways. The owner of the drum was once the chief
AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKAN GALLERY 141
of his tribe, and the sound of this drum has doubtless more than ouce
been the prelude to a departure on the war path. Converted to the
religion and ways of the white man, the chief presented the drum to
Ingalls as something for which he had no further use.
Of war relics, drums, war bonnets, bows and arrows, spears and
other articles, there are many. Scalp locks dangle from spear handles
and from the war drums, suggesting the dangers of frontier days,
when hostile Indians were to be anticipated at any moment. Lying
peacefully in one case is a tomahawk, the steel blade of which sug-
gests early French origin. It was once the property of a Comanche
warrior who boasted of having slain fifteen whites.
Turning to the work of the California Indians, the visitor to the
museum will find a splendidly representative collection, including
stone work, pottery, beadwork, weapons, household utensils, ornaments,
ceremonial objects, costumes and many other objects. The articles
are arranged by districts, affording an opportunity for comparison
between the work of the natives from different parts of the State.
California's first factory is represented by examples of its prod-
ucts. Many years before the first Spaniard set foot on California soil,
a flourishing industry was located on Catalina island, off the shore
of Southern California. Here was the headquarters for the manu-
facture of the articles of stone used by the California tribes. Mor-
tars, pestles, bowls of all sizes, curiously shaped stones for various
uses, these were made by the Catalina island Indians and found their
way into many sections of the State. The island was particularly rich
in the variety of stone used for these articles.
Vast numbers of articles of stone have been credited to the Cata-
lina island workers. Bowls ranging in size from the diameter of a
thimble to that of a washtub have been found, as well as many other
objects chipped bit by bit from the easily worked stone.
These stone objects are commonly found in burial mounds, al-
though many have been discovered at the site of ancient Indian vil-
lages. The Indian custom of placing articles of daily use in the tomb
with their dead has led to the preservation of many interesting ob-
jects in good condition Many have been unearthed in the neighbor-
hood of San Francisco; one of the largest and most richly equipped
mounds in the State was found not many years ago near Point
Richmond.
The ceremonial practices of the Indians are pictured by the ex-
hibits which have to do with their religious observances. Chief among
these are the charm stones which date back to a period of almost
forgotten antiquity. So ancient are they that the Indians found in
California by the whites knew nothing of their origin except that the
stones were found by them already worked into shape. They were
doubtless made by a race which preceded these Indians and which has
been lost in the mists of time. Although the present tribes are ignorant
of the source of the stones, they are deeply superstitious regarding
them, and before the influence of the white man became prevalent, the
Indians used these ancient objects as charms to avert danger or bring,
benefits.
The charm stones used by the San Buenaventura Indians are char-
acteristic of the class. Native superstition declares that the stones
make their presence known by standing up on end when the individual,
destined by fate to possess them, draws near in the measures of the
ceremonial dance.
Students of the Indian customs describe the ceremony used in
connection with the charm stones as follows: Twelve charm stones,
142 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
usually small, rudely carved or shaped stones, were placed in a circle
with a tucait or special piece of stone, usually quartzite, in the center.
Down from the wild duck and red meal were sprinkled over the stones,
and red ochre scattered over all. About these stones the Indians
danced while three old men played sacred rattles. The ceremony was
intended to accomplish various objects, to cure the sick, to ward off
evil spirits, to put out forest fires, to bring rain, to charm fish into
the streams, to drive deer to the favorite hunting grounds, or to bring
success in battle.
The collection of miscellaneous native articles in the museum is
very complete. Representing all phases of daily life of the tribes, it
includes arrow points, hammer stones, weapons, skinners, cooking uten-
sils, wampum, rings, spear points, pestles and mortars, ornaments,
gambling chips, head bands, pouches, awls used in basket weaving,
bracelets and necklaces, ceremonial objects, spoons, hide beaters, bows
and arrows, rattles used by medicine men, costumes, headdresses, hair
combs, fish bags, fish hooks, stone axes, ollas and other pottery, looms
for blanket weaving papoose cradles, peace pipes, Alaskan carvings,
throwing sticks, blankets, ceremonial dance dresses, canoes and, indeed,
almost every conceivable object pertaining to native life.
Among the interesting and valuable collections is the Henry Mac-
Lean Martin collection, valued at $25,000, and representing the work
of the Northern Plains Indians, principally Sioux and Crow. The
Daggett collection, made by John Daggett, former superintendent of the
mint in San Francisco, is unique in that it represents the history and
life of a single and little-known tribe, the Cahrocs, whose home has
been along the Klamath river in Northwest California. The tribe now
consists of a small group of natives, but was once powerful. In the
collection are examples of every detail of tribal life, making possible a
complete and exhaustive study of this particular group.
A Gallery of the South Seas
War Material — Relics of Cannibalism — Costumes of Na-
tives of the Philippines and Other Islands — Ancient Stone
Implements.
Grouped under the general classiilcation of exhibits from the South
seas are objects of many types, representing the native life of the Phil-
ippines, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Tahiti, the New Hebrides, the
many islands of the southern archipelago, and also the collection from
East and South Africa. The collection includes articles of daily life,
ornaments, war material, pottery, costumes and similar objects.
Perhaps the most interesting object of the South seas display, if
somewhat grewsome, is the huge cannibal bowl from the Solomon
Islands. This great bowl, carved from wood, and about three feet in
diameter, was used at the cannibal feasts of old to receive the body of
the victim for convenience in carving. Its worn and polished state sug-
gests that it has had considerable use.
The warlike nature of the South seas natives is indicated by the
large supply of weapons and war material on exhibit. War clubs,
arrows, shields, spears with shark tooth points, rude knives, all suggest
many a life and death struggle between tribes, as well as desperate re-
sistance to the encroaching white men.
From the Caroline Islands have been brought many of the shark
tooth spears and daggers, and the small size of some of these indicates
that the women of the Caroline Islands tribes were no whit behind their
men in warlike energy, for these lighter and smaller weapons were
made for feminine hands to wield.
The virulent poison used by the natives adds to the threat of these
weapons, particularly the arrows. During the installation of this exhibit
the curator and his assistants wore heavy gloves, but even with this
precaution accidental scratches produced painful effects.
One of the interesting war spears in the collection was a royal
weapon from the Island of Malaita, Solomon Islands. The workman-
ship and unusual length of the spear denote its royal ownership, as
the higher the tribal rank possessed by a warrior, the longer and more
ornate was his battle spear. The women of the Solomon Islands are
credited with being the official armorers of the tribe.
Human bones were often used in the workmanship of these
weapons. A piece of bone from a human forearm fastened to the end
of a spear handle indicated that the owner had killed his man in hand-
to-hand fight, and the broad shin bones of unlucky natives who had
met sudden and violent death were found most convenient for the
manufacture of spear blades.
A more modern weapon, at least in time of use, is the Moro sword
captured at the battle of Bahadu, in August, 1917, when the last sur-
vivors of a band of head hunters were exterminated in a cave where
they had gathered to offer final resistance to the Americans. The
sword, which is of a plain and unpretentious design that suggests its
144 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
strictly business intentions, has a roughly carved wooden handle and
a heavy beaten steel blade. It is said to be two and a half centuries
old and was regarded by the natives as a talisman for victory. Its
ownership has been assigned to chiefs and sultans of Moro tribes. The
sword was brought home from Bahadu by Corporal Leland Beveridge,
who presented it to the museum.
War implements from South Africa and weapons, drums, shields,
spears and a Mohammedan battle-flag from the Arab tribes of East
Africa complete this display of war material.
More peaceful pursuits are indicated by the native jewelry and
ornaments. Shells were largely used for necklaces and other forms of
jewelry by the island natives. From the New Zealand tribes come
certain interesting tiki gods, or charms, carved from jade and worn by
Maori chiefs. They are declared to date back to the sixteenth and sev-
enteenth centuries.
Costumes of various descriptions are found in this collection, in-
cluding the characteristic dancing dresses of the South seas, feather
cloaks, headdresses and other articles. Particularly interesting and
valuable is the wonderful kiwi robe, made of feathers of the extinct
kiwi bird, and worn by Chief Mita Tapopoki of the Maori Arawa tribe.
Seventy years are said to have gone to the making of this groat cloak,
covered with the tiny feathers of the bird, for each bird furnished only
a few feathers and thousands are used in the garment. The cloak was
worn at the coronation of Edward and the diamond jubilee of Victoria,
when chiefs of distant tribes gathered to pay homage.
Lying peacefully in its place in one of the wall cases is an object
identified as a battle ax. In reality it served a somewhat grimmer
purpose, as this weapon with its clumsy wooden handle and flat blade
of jadeite, was originally used as a beheading ax.
A curious relic is a natural bell of stone, found in a wood near
the town of Inarajan, Guam. According to native legend this bell was
struck by a giant to call his people together.
Adorning the walls of this gallery are many spears, darts, shields
and knives used by the natives of the South seas. This collection is
one of the many purchased by Mr. de Young for the Museum.
A very valuable collection, presented by Sergeant H. G Hornbostel,
United States marine corps, consists of 580 specimens of ancient stone
implements from the island of Guam, gathered during Sergeant Horn-
bostel's service there. It is regarded as the most complete collection
of the kind in the United States, and is both larger and more repre-
sentative than the collection previously presented by the sergeant to the
New York Natural History Museum.
The specimens were found in old ruins scattered over the island
and were gathered with great difficulty because of the reluctance of
the natives to touch the relics of their ancestors. The superstitions of
the Chamorros were finally allayed by the promise of liberal reward.
Sergeant Hornbostel found that cans of salmon offered in exchange for
relics produced particularly good results.
One of the curious exhibits in the collection of African material is
the shell mat, once the property of a rich Soudanese chieftain. The
mat, about six feet long and four feet wide, is ornamented with a close
pattern of cowrie shells, used as currency by the natives. The quantity
of shells used in the decoration is an indication of the wealth of the
owner.
Arab wedding ornaments, jewelry, weapons, articles of dress and
other objects complete the collection.
Gallery of Antiquities
Egyptian and Pompeian Gallery — Mummies and Relics of
Antiquity — Canopic Vases — Mummified Cats — Tomb
Figures — Deciphering of Hieroglyphics — Jewelry — Seals
— Herculaneum, Etruscan, Assyrian and Other Objects.
Picturing the civilization of long-dead centuries are the exhibits
gathered in the room known as the Egyptian and Pompeian gallery
and devoted to originals and reproductions of treasures from the ancient
cities of Egypt, Greece, Etruria and other lands of history. In addition
to a large number of originals, the exhibit includes careful and accurate
reproductions of pottery, implements, objects of art, coins, such famous
objects as the Rosetta Stone, and other articles.
At the doorway of the gallery stands a black marble reproduction of
the famous Bull of Nineveh, the original of which is in the British
Museum. There were once two of these guardians of the gate, but the
second was broken in the earthquake of 190G.
Austen H. Leyard, a well-known explorer and archaeologist, dis-
covered the originals in 1846 in excavations at Nineveh. The bulls be-
longed to the period of Assurbanapal, who began his reign about 885
B. C., and stood at the gates of the temple. In the inscription the bulls
are called "sedu" or spirits, and are declared to protect the comings
and goings of the King and to exclude all evil.
A curious feature about the bull is that he possesses five legs, so
arranged that whether the statue is viewed from the front or the side
the bull displays four legs, all in the plainest possible view. The bull
has an elaborate conventional neck adornment, and the background is
covered with carvings and inscriptions.
The mummy collection includes two wrapped mummies and several
fragments, showing the method of wrapping. Priest and priestess lie
side by side in their glass case — Thoth, high priest of the Temple of
Isis at Ekhmin, and Hatason, priestess and vestal virgin from the Tem-
ple of Amen-Ra at Lycopolis. Thoth had already been placed in his
sarcophagus when Hatason was serving in the Temple of Amen-Ra, for
his mummy has been estimated to' be more than thirty centuries old.
Inscriptions on Hatason's mummy-case assign her to the dynasty of
Ptolemy IV, about 222 B. C. "Rest she in the justice of Osiris" is the
memorial inscription on her coffin.
Because of their belief that the soul, after passing through cen-
turies of existence in other bodies at last returned to its human body
for another life, the Egyptians practiced the art of embalming their
dead with the view of keeping the body intact for the soul's return.
Archaeologists have declared that mummifying was in vogue from
2000 B. C. to 700 A. D. and have ventured the belief that millions of
bodies were thus prepared. Thousands of these mummied bodies did
not survive the centuries; careful placing in tombs of living rock was
only for the wealthy, and the bodies of the poor, roughly mummified,
were thrown into mummy pits without identifying inscriptions. Many
146 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
mummies have already been taken from tombs; how many more the
age-old sands of Egypt hold no one can tell.
Mummy-preparing was a recognized industry in ancient Egypt.
Every city had its establishment where bodies were received and
embalmed and where the embalmers, gilders, mummy-case makers,
carvers, scribes, priests and other workmen formed a colony of their
own.
The bandages in which the bodies were wrapped after the viscera
had been removed and spices and preserving material placed in the
body were always of linen, the texture varying with the rank of the
deceased. Each finger and toe was first separately wrapped, then the
arms and legs were swathed, and finally the whole body was wrapped
tightly in the strips of linen from three to four inches wide. From
700 to 1250 yards of bandages have been taken from mummies that
have been unwrapped.
The bandaged mummy was first placed in a coffin of wood, usually
cedar or sycamore, and the coffin was placed in a sarcophagus, there
sometimes being several enclosing coffins before the final outer
sarcophagus was reached. On the lid of the wooden mummy case was
often painted a portrait of the man or woman within, and inscriptions
were also placed there. Mummies have been found on which bandages
were marked with the name of the dead and sometimes the name and
regnal year of the reigning king, doubtless to prevent mistakes in
identity.
Mummification of animals was extensively practiced. Mummies of
animals were often placed in the tomb with human mummies to insure
the presence of favorite dogs or cats with their owners in later lives.
Sacred animals also were mummified. Many Egyptian cities had their
particular animal protector, a cat or a crocodile or some other animal
or living creature. These animals were held sacred and cared for at
death as if they had been human beings. The sacred cats of Bubastes
are well-known examples of this custom.
Several mummies of animals are in the museum cases, some fairly
well identified, and others such shapeless little bundles that it is only
a guess that they may have been cats.
Supplementing the mummy collection is an excellent collection of
canopic vases, funeral figures and tomb property, all originals. Canopic
vases were the containers in which the viscera of the bodies trans-
formed into mummies were placed, and the vases placed in the tomb
with the mummy. The examples in the museum are of alabaster, stone
and other materials, and are lavishly carved.
The funeral figures are of clay, wood, glazed enamel or pottery.
They were placed in the tombs, and frequently represent attendants
to wait upon the dead man.
A large black basalt reproduction of a carved sarcophagus lid
shows hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Probably the most important discovery in Egyptian archaeology
was made in 1799, when French soldiers, commanded by Bonchard,
an artillery officer, were digging for a redoubt near the village of
Rosetta on the Nile delta, and unearthed what later became known as
the Rosetta Stone. The original is one of the chief treasures of the
Egyptian division of the British Museum. The Memorial Museum owns
a reproduction.
About 190 B. C. instructions were given to stone carvers to pre-
pare a special tablet to be erected in honor of Ptolemy Epiphanes, the
GALLERY OF ANTIQUITIES 147
reigning monarch. In order that all might read of the glories of
Ptolemy Epiphanes, the workmen were ordered to carve the inscription
in three languages; hieroglyphics, or the picture writing used on
monuments; the demotic, enchorial, or popular Egyptian writing, which
was used for decrees, public documents, contracts and general trans-
actions, and lastly, that foreigners might read and admire, in Greek.
It was the Greek that gave the clue to the inscription in hiero-
glyphics, hitherto utterly untranslatable in spite of the efforts of
scholars. It was assumed that the inscription was in triplicate, but
even this was merely a beginning of the task. The scholars knew
what the entire hieroglyphic inscription meant, but they could not tell
one word from another.
De Sacy, a French archaeologist, was the first to make progress.
Using the cipher reading method dear to the writer of mystery stories,
he searched the rows of hieroglyphs for recurring symbols. He found
these in numbers, but failed to solve the problem. His difficulty, it was
learned in later years, was his failure to guess that the hieroglyphic
writing used phonetics as well as symbols and that the enchorial sys-
tem also made use of symbols, as well as letters.
Not until 1814 were words of the inscription translated definitely.
Then Dr. Young again took up De Sacy's method and identified a small
group of characters, as "and." Another recurring group, by compari-
son with the Greek, he decided meant "king." "Ptolemy" and "Egypt"
were located in the same way.
The work of translation was completed in 1824 by Champallion and
immediately the treasures of the hieroglyphic inscriptions on thousands
of monuments and documents were thrown open. With the aid of the
Rosetta Stone, the wonderful Book of the Dead was interpreted, the
book which was found in the tombs of the Kings of Thebes, and which
sets forth the entire Egyptian system of funeral ceremonies, beliefs as
to the future and other illuminating facts about the ancient nation.
Ptolemy Epiphanes, in the Rosetta Stone inscription, is styled "King
of Upper and Lower Egypt, son of the Gods Philopatores, approved by
Pthah, to whom Ra has given victory, a living image of Amun, son of
Ra, Ptolemy immortal, beloved by Pthah, God. Epiphanes most gracious."
The preamble mentions with gratitude the services of the King, or
rather, of his wise minister, Aristomenes, who, one imagines, had some-
thing to do with the affair of the tablet; and the enactment orders that
the statue of the King shall be worshiped in every temple of the land
and be carried in processions with those of the other gods of the coun-
try. Lastly, the decree is to be carved at the foot of every statue of the
King in sacred, common and Greek writing.
Perhaps these super-regal honors were not too much for the man
through whom, although he never knew it, the storehouse of ancient
Egyptian lore was to be opened to later generations.
The divinities of Egypt are largely represented in the collection
through the many statues of Ciay, wood, alabaster, enamel or other ma-
terials. Most frequent among these statuettes are those of Osiris, re-
garded as the prince of good, the creator, the foe of all evil and the god
of the Nile, who engaged in constant battle with his brother or son,
Set, who was the god of evil, darkness and the desert. Isis, the sister,
wife and female counterpart of Osiris, and the mother of Horus, is also
often found in statuettes. She is usually represented with the solar
disk and cow's horns on her head arid holding a lotus scepter. Isis is
the favorite divinity or protector of mystics, and the inscriptions fre-
148 M. H. DK YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
quently found on her statue assuredly qualify her for the place. One
inscription, often found, reads: "I am that which is, has and shall be.
My veil no one has lifted. The fruit I bore was the Sun." Isis watched
over the birth of children and presided over all good.
Bast, the cat-headed goddess of Bubastis, and Thoth, the ibis-
headed, are examples of popular divinities. Thousands of little cat-
headed images of Bast were sold at Bubastis, where fortunate cats lived
in an earthly paradise, worshiped as divinities and treated with vast
reverence.
Many of the images of gods, canopic vases and other articles in the
exhibit were bought by Mr. de Young from the Cairo Museum, where
duplicates of articles already in the museum collection are sold. Mr.
de Young had the advantage of advice from Stone Pasha, a former San
Francisco man who happened to be holding an official position in Egypt
when Mr. de Young visited Cairo.
An odd little story is told about this purchase. Stone Pasha knew
that the authorities were not always as accurate as they should be in
certifying the authenticity of relics, so he arranged with Mr. de Young,
before visiting the museum, that he would guide the choice. Not wish-
ing to place himself in an unfavorable light with the Egyptians and yet
desiring to assist his friend, Stone Pasha agreed with Mr. de Young
upon a system of signals whereby a certain phrase was to mean that the
article in question was good and worth buying and certain others meant
that it was dubious.
There is also a case of interesting Egyptian jewelry, necklets, arm-
lets, bangles, rings and amulets, as well as several excellent scarabs.
The genuine scarab is not, as often thought, the beetle it resembles, but
it is an imitation of the beetle carved in feldspar, quartz, serpentine,
hematite or some other semi-precious substance. Scarabs were used as
amulets and as the emblem of the principal male divinities, and also as
ornaments and in rings. Inscribed scarabs were placed over the hearts
of mummies and those without inscription sometimes inside the bodies,
the object of the charm being to preserve the heart, in which the soul
was supposed to seek refuge after death. Scarabs for rings were often
carved from precious stones or made of white soapstone coated with
blue or green glaze, this being the best-known color.
The case of engraved seals is one of the most valuable exhibits of
the room. The ancient peoples considered each gem as the represent-
ative of some spiritual, moral or physical power and believed that the
presiding genius of a man's fate could be carried around with him in the
shape of a gem, usually his engraved signet. It was an ancestor of
the lucky stone belief; a man who claimed a certain jewel as his pro-
tector would have his signet or seal carved on that gem so that he might
always carry it with him.
In Egypt the punishment for counterfeiting seals was the loss of
both hands, so carefully did the ancients guard against forgery. In
modern Persia the seal cutter keeps a register of all seals he makes and
the punishment for forgery is death.
. The earliest form of seals were oblong or cylindrical, gradually
developing into the small circular form to be worn in a ring.
The museum collection represents Assyrian, Hittite, Persian, Ori-
ental and Babylonian seals, dating back for thousands of years and
showing all shapes and many kinds of materials. Mr. de Young pur-
chased the collection from an Eastern man who had spent years gath-
ering it.
GALLERY OF ANTIQUITIES 149
Roman, Greek and Egyptian lamps and tear bottles fill another
case. The lamps are the familiar boat-shaped form or. round pottery
affairs, designed to hold a wick.
Tear bottles are reminiscent of the grief of the ancients for de-
parted relatives, for it was the custom for mourners to catch their tears
in these odd-shaped little bottles as tangible evidence of their grief.
The pottery collection contains both originals and reproductions.
The originals include a large number of fine examples of Graeco-Roman
pottery of the early centuries and some later Greek specimens. One
particularly good vase of the sixth century has been compared with
the famous Portland vase for beauty of shape and design. The Graeco-
Roman pottery is usually of a vermilion tinge, with spirited designs
painted in black.
Among the reproductions are examples of Pompeian workmanship,
copies of vases, bowls and jugs found in the ruins of the ancient city,
showing characteristic designs and- color. Pompeii is also represented
by a large number of reproductions of bronzes, instruments and other
objects.
Pompeii, the storehouse of treasure of the period, was a flourishing
provincial town, situated at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, on the Bay of
Naples. It was a summer resort of the time, containing the suburban
villas of wealthy Romans, where they kept many objects of art. There
were no large public buildings, but an unusual number of handsome
private homes, richly furnished.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A. D. overwhelmed the city
and the neighboring town of Herculaneum. Novels, from Bulwer-Lyt-
ton's story on down, and many other books have made the modern
reader familiar with the details of that catastrophe. Excavators meet
different conditions in the two towns, for Pompeii was buried prin-
cipally under ashes, while floods of lava poured over Herculaneum.
The ashes have hardened into stone in the passage of centuries, but
even so, excavation at Pompeii is easier than at Herculaneum.
Owing to topographical changes, the site of the city was lost and it
was not relocated until 1748, when an accidental discovery revealed its
existence under the lava and ashes. Systematic excavation was started
in 1755 and was carried on for only a short period. Occasional explora-
tions were made during the century that followed, but careful and scien-
tific work was not done until the middle of the nineteenth century,
under the direction of Signer Fiorelli. In the '70s the discovery of rare
objects reached proportions that interested the world.
All Pompeian bronzes that leave Italy are reproductions. The
originals are treasured in the Royal Museum at Naples as the property
of the Italian Government and cannot be purchased at any price. How-
ever, the firm of J. Chiurazzi & Sons of Naples has had for some ten
years a Government license to make replicas of the antique pieces, and
their reproductions are somewhat more than mere copies, for they use
the same method of casting as that followed by the ancient artists.
The secret of Roman bronze casting was lost after the early years
of the Christian era until it was rediscovered by Benvenuto Cellini in
the sixteenth century. The Roman artists made their models in wax,
permitting the most delicate designs to be created. The wax was then
covered with successive layers of plaster or very fine clay, until the
coating was strong enough to serve as a mold. The object was then
heated, the wax melted and was drained off through a hole left for the
purpose, and molten bronze was poured into the hole to replace the
wax. Obviously the bronze castmg could only be reached by breaking
150 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
the plaster mold, and since the wax model had already been destroyed,
it was entirely out of the question to make duplicates.
Modern artists have made use of this method; Gustave Dore used
it in creating the giant bronze vase that stands in the Memorial Museum.
The Chiurazzis have not only adopted the Roman method of bronze
casting, but have discovered a method of reproducing the patina, or
glossy finish on the bronze pieces. The bronzes dug up from the ruins
of Pompeii are tinted a powdery green, with metallic shades, due to
the action of chemicals in the ashes. This tint is faithfully reproduced
in the castings. Bronzes from Herculaneum, which were covered with
lava instead of ashes, are a smooth metallic black in color.
An example of work from Herculaneum is the beautiful Chelidon
jar in the museum collection. This differs from other nieces in that the
original was not cast, but hammered, decorations and all, from solid
bronze and adorned with chasing done with a chisel. Arabesques in a
broad band encircle the vase just below the rim, and winged heads form
the attachments for the double handles.
A typical Pompeian piece is the magnificent candelabrum from the
House of Diomede — a villa that once belonged to a wealthy citizen named
Marcus Diomede, who evidently was a connoisseur of art, for quantities
of beautiful objects have been taken from his house. The candelabrum
was designed to hold lamps". It is a standard, four feet tall, from the
four branches of which lamps are hung by chains. These lamps were
designed for the burning of oil. Each is double, with a hole at either
end for the wick, and a third hole through which the oil was poured.
This hole was closed with a bronze thimble. A design of grape vines
and leaves is done in relief on the surface of the base, on which stand
small figures representing Cupid riding on a tiger and an altar on
which flames are rising.
Two beautiful tripods are included among the bronzes. One was
found in the .Temple of Isis at Pompeii — the worship of this Egyptian
deity having spread extensively through the Northern Mediterranean
countries at the time Pompeii flourished — and the other coming from
the House of Julio Felix.
The temple tripod, used as a sacrificial dish, is a large circular
bowl, very shallow, with garlands in relief about its edge. It is sup-
ported by three winged figures. The Felix tripod is also supported by
figures with their arms outstretched, and is elaborate in design.
Another type of pottery shown is the Etruscan, found in ancient
Etruria, on the Mediterranean, which corresponds to modern Tuscany.
Etruria is one of the few countries of antiquity which still guards its
secrets. The Etruscan language has never been fully interpreted and
many inscriptions remain unread. A few clews to the mystery have
been afforded by the discovery cf several vases bearing the Etruscan
alphabet, representing the early forms of the twenty-two Phoenician
letters arranged in Semitic order, but no Rosetta Stone has yet been
discovered for the benefit of archaeologists who puzzle over the
problem.
Etruscan pottery is not of the best type, for this nation appears to
have imported its best pottery from Greece. The people were, however,
experts in metal work and seem to have tried to adapt shapes and
designs suitable for metals to their work in clay.
Two wall cases in this gallery hold an interesting collection of casts
made from the Graeco-Ronian gems in the British Museum. The exhibit
is a comprehensive collection of specimens of carved gems of the
GALLERY OF ANTIQUITIES 151
various periods of antiquity, showing the fine cameo and intaglio carv-
ings of portrait heads, mythological subjects and other designs.
Bronze reproductions of architectural and surgical instruments
used by professional men of ancient Gree.ce and Rome are also shown,
and there is a similar collection of Egyptian musical instruments.
Prominent among the exhibits is a black basalt reproduction of an
Assyrian obelisk, accredited to the period of Shalmaneser II, 823 B. C.,
and showing the angular Assyrian relief modeling and carving.
Three plaster reproductions of contrasting friezes are on the walls
of the gallery, one of the Parthenon frieze, one a fragment of an Assyrian
relief, and one a bit of frieze from the organ screen in the Duomo,
Florence. The Parthenon frieze depicts, in addition to figures, the
sacred treasures which were used in Panathenaic festivals at Athens
and kept at the Parthenon. Built in 438 B. C., this famous structure
stands on the Acropolis overlooking Athens, and while it was dedicated
to Athene, it did not serve as a temple, but rather as a storehouse for
the festival treasures.
Papyrus documents, fragments of sculpture, jewelry and miscella-
neous exhibits of a wide variety complete the display in the gallery de-
voted to the world of antiquity.
The Ecclesiastical Gallery
Church Furniture — Tabernacles — Carvings — Lamps — Paint-
ings Used as Altar Pieces — Diptyches and Triptyches-
Souvenirs of Religious Events — Wrought Iron Work — Old
Missals — Antique Crucifixes,
With the opening of the new unit, the wealth of church material
that for years was housed in a small room of the old building has been
properly displayed in a larger gallery, where its value can, for the
first time, be genuinely appreciated. The museum owns some exceed-
ingly valuable ecclesiastical material, and other excellent pieces are
there as loans.
The most striking object in the gallery is the large tabernacle from
a church of Cadiz, Spain. It is a Renaissance piece, elaborately gilded,
and supported by cherub figures.
At the opposite end of the room stand two very old pieces of church
furniture, a Flemish chalice cabinet of the middle sixteenth century,
decorated with a quaintly carved panel representing Abraham offering
up Isaac, and a fourteenth century shrine, very elaborately hand carved
and gilded and surmounted with the heraldic arms of Charles V of
France. In the shrine stands a wooden figure of the Virgin, the robes
gilded and painted. The detail carving on the panels and doors of the
shrine is particularly interesting.
A pair of doors from the Convent of Ecija, Spain, are in the gal-
lery. These are made of Madeira santo, or "holy wood," and the arms
of the Duke Osema are carved on the lower panels.
Hung from the ceiling are several antique church lamps of beauti-
fully wrought iron or bronze.
Above the wall cases are a number of paintings, both originals and
reproductions. The pictures include a copy by William Fisher of Titian's
"Marriage of St. Catherine"; an original by Carlo Maratti (1625-1713),
"The Lord's Sorrow"; a copy of "The Beheading of St. John" by Cris-
toforo Allor, a painter of the sixteenth century Florentine school; a
copy of the Murillo Madonna in the Galleria Corsini, Rome; an original,
"Jesus in the Wilderness," by J. Bronzini; three very interesting old
paintings from Mexico, one representing St. Ignatius, founder of the
Jesuits; one, St. Anthony of Padua, and the third a really excellent
painting of a Franciscan friar, dark with age, and noteworthy for its
interesting lighting, a strong gleam falling on the face and hand, leav-
ing the rest of the figure in darkness.
The collection is particularly rich in wood carvings of the Middle
Ages. Among the interesting specimens are reliefs, painted and gilded,
dating to the sixteenth century, representing such scenes as the Na-
tivity, the birth of Mary, St. Peter and other saints; a sixteenth cen-
tury St. John from Spain, elaborately gilded; a quaint old sixteenth
century "Ecce Homo" from an old church at Lille, now destroyed; a
gilded and painted wood carving from a sixteenth century chapel at
Avignon, France; a seventeenth century altar piece, representing the
THE ECCLESIASTICAL GALLERY 153
Sacred Heart surrounded by the thorn wreath, with four carved heads
and two carved figures, taken from the famous Church of St. Benedict,
Saeckan-Steirmark, Tyrol; two groups of angels, seventeenth century
work, formerly in the House of Justice of the city of Wurtzburg, Ger-
many; beautifully carved Stations of the Cross; many smaller reliefs
and altar pieces, and a large number of figures of saints and apostles,
the latter figures particularly good.
Several plaster reproductions of well-known carvings and statues
are included, such as two figures of saints from niches in the wall of
Rheims Cathedral, and the quaintly individual little figures of the monks
that march about the tombs of the dukes of Burgundy at Dijon.
An odd little figure is the elaborately dressed wax doll that occupies
a special case. When Princess Maria Louisa of Austria was born, De-
cember 12, 1791, this and similar figures were placed in the churches
to suggest to the people to pray for the health and welfare of the little
Princess. The doll represents a child, gowned in the massive silver
brocade and lace court costume of the period.
Several beautiful examples of mediaeval diptyches and triptyches
occupy space in one of the wall cases. These are of varied materials,
carved wood, silver, enamel or ivory, and are wonderfully artistic. One
particularly beautiful triptych has the Virgin and Child in the central
panel, with adoring figures kneeling on the outside panels. The work
is in ivory, delicately carved and illuminated with color. Another in-
teresting triptych is in blue Limoges enamel, and still another is of
hammered silver.
This case also contains the valuable and interesting Porta Santa
bricks, yellow clay bricks stamped with inscriptions and decoration.
The chief of these bricks is from the Porta Santa, or Holy Door, at St.
Peter's, Rome, and is stamped "Year of the Jubilee, 1775," also bearing
the tiara and keys, the symbol of papal authority. Originally the Porta
Santa was opened every hundred years for the formal entrance of the
Pope, but about the time of Dante the Pope ordained that the ceremony
should take place every quarter century. The custom continued until
1825, when, owing to the rupture between the Italian Government and
the Vatican, it was discontinued until 1900.
When the time for opening the door arrives, the Pope, with the
Cardinals, the Vatican Guards and his entire retinue, approaches the
door by the stairs known as Carlo Magno (Charlemagne), which con-
nect with his private apartments from outside the church. He strikes
the door three times with a silver hammer, and, through a mechanical
contrivance, the bricks then in place fall to the ground. The Pope
thereupon enters the church with his suite.
After a year the door is again bricked up with formal ceremonies,
the Pope laying the first brick, which is stamped with the year and the
papal coat of arms. The museum brick, being stamped 1775, is there-
fore the brick which was put in place that year and removed in 1800.
Thousands of pilgrims visit Rome at this time to win indulgences
by passing through the Porta Santa. Records of 1900 show that 800,000
pilgrims passed through the door during the year it stood open.
Similar ceremonies are carried out at the others of the seven
basilica in Rome, the Cardinal to whom is assigned the title and pro-
tectorate of the basilica officiating at the ceremony. The museum
possesses a brick from the Basilica of San Giovanni, which is stamped
with the coat of arms and name of Cardinal Julius Maria de Somalia,
protectorate of the Basilica of San Giovanni, under the pontificate of
Pope Leo XII, 1825.
154 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Other papal relics possessed by the museum include a slipper of
red leather worn by Pope Pius IX, which is certified as authentic by
"the notarial seal attached and a zuchetta or cap of white silk worn
by Pope Leo XIII and presented to Count Peter Donahue of the Papal
Guard.
These two relics and a beautiful chalice cover of red silk,
embroidered in gold thread, from the Cathedral of Palermo, Sicily, are
placed in a case, which also contains an unusually fine exhibit of
ecclesiastical embroideries, stoles, altar pieces, vestments and other
pieces. These are practically all of mediaeval origin and are heavily
embroidered in gold, silver and silk.
Many of these magnificent vestments were purchased by Mr. de
Young in the famous Roman "rag market." This well known institution
is not exactly what its name would indicate, but is a weekly outdoor
sale, held on Thursdays in one of the great squares of Rome. Mer-
chants set up booths and all varieties of goods are displayed, frequently
of high value. It was Mr. de Young's habit during his visits to Rome
to leave his carriage at the outskirts of the "rag market" and hunt
through the aisles of booths, returning to the carriage with armload
after armload of rare materials.
Lucky chance and Mr. de Young's persistence in following up clews
brought many treasures to the Museum. An example is the collection
of carved figures of nine of the apostles that stand in one of the cases
of this gallery. Mr. de Young overheard a chance remark in a small
cafe to the effect that a barber in a certain district of Paris had some
curious wooden images in his shop. Immediately he set out in search
of the barber shop, located it, and there found the apostles, which the
barber told him he had bought for a few francs when an old church
near by had been demolished. He regarded them merely as curios
and had no idea that they were rare mediaeval wood carvings.
Interesting objects in the collection are the wrought iron cemetery
crosses from Germany and Ireland. These crosses have spaces In the
center for a religious picture.
The collection of altar furnishings, candlesticks and similar pieces
is large and valuable. Some of the brass candlesticks are particularly
beautiful, and there are several antique holy water fonts, crucifixes
and other objects.
In a case at the end of the room is an excellent display of illum-
inated pages in Latin and Hebrew. The Latin examples are largely
choral leaves of parchment, setting forth the music of the Gregorian
chants in the black-letter illumination of the Middle Ages. Parts of
the Missal of the Mass are also shown in these beautifully illuminated
parchment pages. The Hebrew examples date to the eighteenth century.
One among them is a marriage certificate, dated Rome, 1817.
The documentary treasures of this collection are priceless. The
collection of Bibles alone is unusually large and contains some exceed-
ingly valuable specimens of the first days of printing. There are
German, Welsh, English, Dutch, French, Spanish and Latin volumes;
old family Bibles, with the family history duly filled out; a German
Bible printed by Krafft in 1590; Dutch Bibles printed at Amsterdam
in 1754, 1818 and other dates of the period; English Bibles of the
seventeenth and early eighteenth century; a Danish Bible of 1769;
historic French volumes; early American specimens, and many others.
The Spanish books represent the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, and most of them are bound in vellum.
THE ECCLESIASTICAL GALLERY 155
Among the American books are many of the quaint old moral
guides of long ago, such as "Help and Guide to Christian Families,"
1773; "Tracts, Entertaining, Moral and Religious," 1803; "Religions of
the World," 1695, and a sermon by Joseph Lathrop, D. D., of West
Springfield, Mass., occasioned by a series of remarkable inundations in
the winter of 1807.
Several beautiful examples of the Koran are shown, written by
hand on parchment and wonderfully illuminated in crimson and gold.
East Indian prayer tablets are curious affairs that fold up like a fan.
There is a large and interesting collection of rosaries and reli-
quaries, including an eighteenth century reliquary found on a battle-
field in Greece.
From Mexico comes a valuable collection gathered by Dr. Ernest
Forbes. Among the exhibits are relics of the Inquisition, spiked collars,
spiked belts, whips of heavy chain, spiked shoesoles and similar articles.
In this class belongs the sixteenth century dismemberment ax, an
elaborate and massive affair of chased steel shaped like a battle ax,
and the "cuchillo de consolation," a knife which was used to put an
end to the sufferings of the victim of torture.
Mexican also are the antique crucifixes carried by Jesuit priests
when making a mission, and the milagros, or tiny silver images hung
on the shrines of patron saints in gratitude for answered prayers.
From Mexico came the exceedingly interesting paintings on wood and
copper, heads of Christ, pictures of saints and other religious subjects,
showing the importation of Spanish and Italian art into early Mexico.
An antique church bell in one of the cases was taken from a ruined
Spanish church at Guadalupe, Philippine islands.
Individual objects of great interest and value are numerous and
widely varied, completing a collection that invariably attracts much
attention.
Art Metal Gallery
Keys, Locks, Escutcheons and Hinges — Chamberlain Keys
of Gold — Door Knockers Are Elaborate — Prison Relics
Tell Grim Tales — Handcuffs and Shackles.
Keys, locks, escutcheons, knockers, jewel caskets, and many other
objects of wrought metal are displayed in one of the galleries of the
old unit, the exhibit including several of Mr. de Young's special col-
lections. The keys, for example, make up one of his most complete
collections, and the examples, more than 200 in number, represent the
best metal work of Gothic and Renaissance periods.
The elaborate locks of early days are illustrated by a large collec-
tion. Gothic and Renaissance metal workers designed their door locks
for more than merely utilitarian purposes. Instead of making the lock
as inconspicuous as possible, as is ordinarily the case on a modern door,
unless designed by an artist, the locks were wrought into fanciful
shapes with elaborate patterns of intricate metal work surrounding
the working parts. They were huge affairs, compared to the present
compact locks, corresponding to the giant keys which often measured
many inches in length.
The general collection of locks includes many types, large and
small, plain and elaborate. Historic locks in the exhibit are one taken
from a door of the Bastille near the Porte St. Antoine, and antique
locks from old Spanish vestment chests, treasured in the cathedrals
and churches. These chest locks are especially beautiful in design on.
a smaller scale than the big door locks.
Other locks doubtless served to fasten palace or church doors, to
keep safe royal treasures, or to seal the doors of mediaeval dungeons,
for every bit of wrought metal in the exhibit has its own history,
whether recorded or unknown.
With the locks, come, the keys that once turned in them. The col-
lection of keys, especially of the Gothic and Renaissance periods from
the twelfth to the sixteenth century, is very complete, and, displayed
in large wall cases, is easy to study.
Like other art and handicraft of the periods, the keys betray their
origin; the Gothic keys are heavier and more solid and simple in de-
sign, while the Renaissance examples are elaborate and flamboyant
in their intricate adornment.
An interesting case of keys contains a group of gold chamberlain
keys, given by German princes to their royal chamberlains as badges
of office and designed to be worn suspended about the neck of the
recipient rather than put to practical use. The keys are of moderate
size, elaborately designed, and surmounted by the arms of the royal
patron. Among them is the key given to Count Frederick August of
Brockdorff by Maximilian Joseph I of Bavaria, and keys given to their
chamberlains by Elector Maximilian II of Bavaria, the king of Po-
land-Saxony, Grand Duke Leopold of Baden, Elector Charles Theodore
of the Palatinate, a king of Bavaria, and other kings and princes.
ART METAL GALLERY 157
These keys are in the museum as a result of Mr. de Young's persistence
as a collector. The story of how he found them placed in the private
apartments of a German dealer and purchased them after a long battle
of wits with the owner, who did not wish to sell the keys, is only one
of the many interesting tales that may be connected with the museum
exhibits.
When mediaeval metal workers sunk the locks into the doors in-
stead of placing them prominently, they satisfied their desire for elab-
oration by surrounding the keyholes with escutcheons or designs in
wrought metal. A large collection of these keyhole escutcheons is in
the museum, showing the beautiful art of the old-time metal workers.
The escutcheons are intricately wrought in elaborate designs, and often
reach large dimensions.
Similar escutcheons were designed to adorn door knobs, which pro-
jected from a background of artistic metal work instead of from the
unadorned surface of the door or .from plain plaques of metal. Modern
door knob plates are descendants of these elaborately wrought affairs
of the Middle Ages.
Door knockers were objects on which metal workers of mediaeval
years spent much effort. Before the days of bells and push buttons,
the door knocker was an important affair as well as an indispensable
part of household equipment. The museum contains a large collection
of knockers of Gothic and Renaissance origin, showing all styles from
plain, substantial wrought iron to elaborate affairs of hammered brass
and copper. Two historic knockers in the collection are of Spanish
origin. One was taken from the palace of Aben Abez, a Moorish king
in the days of the invasion of Spain, and the other from the balcony on
an old house built by Charles V in 1664. This knocker is adorned
with the royal coat of arms and crown.
Hinges have always attracted the attention of metal designers as
objects on which it was possible to expend much effort with good re-
sults. Ancient chests and trunks almost invariably have elaborate and
interesting hinges of wrought metal, frequently so large that they reach
far across the lid. Many examples of antique hinges of hammered and
wrought metal are in the museum, some taken from old cathedral
chests, some from treasure boxes, and others from doors.
The collection of miscellaneous metal objects includes a large
number of caskets, jewel boxes, candlesticks, bowls, ornamental ob-
jects, lamps and other items. The jewel caskets are especially beau-
tiful with their intricate and attractive designs, delicately wrought in
the metal.
Hammered brass work, characteristic of India, is largely repre-
sented by a case filled with artistic objects in the ornate designs
favored by the Eastern workmen. Several of the large vases, bowls,
trays and other articles are elaborately decorated in hammered pat-
terns, inset with contrasting metals or jewels, and beautifully burn-
ished.
A pair of wrought iron gates are of German origin and date to the
eighteenth century.
The art metal gallery also houses a unique collection gathered by
Dr. C. C. Marckres of San Jose and valued at $4000, less for its in-
trinsic worth than for its extraordinary historical interest. This is the
collection of prison relics, shackles, handcuffs, leg-irons, chains and
other grim objects, every one with its own history.
Here are Russian handcuffs with pads of leather to keep the metal
from freezing fast to the flesh of the prisoners in the bitter cold of
158 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Siberia; chains with which Russian political prisoners have been bound
to the walls of their cells; Spanish prison ship shackles, 200 years old,
which were riveted about the ankle of the captive, with the other end
of the chain forged to the deck — shackles that could only be loosened
by breaking the chain, as there is no lock.
Another set of Spanish torture irons were the type used on des-
perate prisoners. They were riveted to the ankles, one hand was
cuffed, and the short outer chain was fastened to the wall. The weight
of the chain served to drag the body of the unfortunate prisoner to
the floor.
A curious set of Japanese handcuffs, or rather handcuff, was used
to hold both hands of the prisoner, placed palm to palm and encircled
by a single band.
The only pair of handcuffs known which were made especially
for use on women is included in the collection, a pair of small cuffs
made for slim wrists.
Thumbscrews, so often figuring in stories of years gone by, are
here shown in actuality. They are ugly little affairs which were so
designed that efforts of the prisoner to loosen his hands only tightened
the screws, cutting the thumbs to the bone. Their use has been gen-
erally prohibited.
California history is recalled in the presence of the first pair of
shackles used at Hangtown, now more mildly known as Placerville.
A heavy handwrought ball and chain were found in the hills near
Hilo, Hawaii, a few miles from a prison. The story goes that when
they were found, a fragment of human leg bone was in the shackle —
a hint at some tragedy of escape and death.
Palmer shackles of the type used on slave ships, Andersonville
relics, locks and keys from jails and prisons, and many similar trophies
make this a most unique collection and one that is in little danger of
duplication.
Pipes, Shoes and Mexican
Ernest Forbes Collection of Aztec Relics — Russian Dolls
Illustrate Costume — Knives and Forks — Pipes of All
Varieties — Shoes From Many Lands.
In one of the galleries of the old unit are placed a number of miscel-
laneous collections of varied interest, Aztec and Maya relics, Russian
costume dolls, pipes, knives and 'forks, shoes, early typewriters and
sewing machines and other articles.
The Aztec and Maya material is principally that collected by Dr.
Ernest Forbes. Dr. Forbes lived in Mexico for many years and owned
extensive holdings there until driven out by the revolutions. During
his residence in the country he explored the jungle-hidden ruins and
excavated in ancient burial and temple mounds, particularly in the dis-
trict of Frontera, State of Tabasco, and unearthed a very valuable
array of material, much of which is now on view in the museum.
He carried on his excavating largely in the burial mounds which
thickly dot this district. They are found at a distance of a mile or so
apart for a stretch of eighty miles, and are topped by sacrificial temples.
Although there are no stones in the district larger than pebbles, the
interior of the mounds is honeycombed with stairways, passages and
cells for the victims of the approaching sacrifices.
At a depth of about forty-seven feet underground, Dr. Forbes un-
earthed the clay idols which are now in the museum. These rude bits
of workmanship, roughly modeled of clay or chipped out of stone, repre-
sent the Aztec divinities, the warrior god, the god of cripples, the god
worshiped by wizards at their professional gatherings, and others. The
open mouths, staring eyes and angular features and the crude anatomy
of the figures are all characteristic of ancient Mexican work.
The progenitors of the present Mexican Indians migrated into
Mexico from the north, possibly from the Arizona and New Mexico cliff
dwelling region, although rock paintings of unmistakable character
have been discovered quite extensively in California, suggesting a
migration by this route. At any rate, the Toltecs arrived in Mexico in
the early Christian era and by the eighth century were well established
at a point about fifty miles north of Mexico City, where they built
cities. The name Toltec was not the designation by which they were
known during their tribal lifetime, but means "builder" and was applied
by later tribes to the unknown builders of the ruined cities they found.
About 1050 the Toltecs were driven south into Honduras, Guatemala
and Yucatan, and there built the enormous edifices that are now
crumbled ruins, hidden by creeping Jungle. After them came the
Chichimecas, and in the late twelfth century, the Aztecs started their
pilgrimage from the northern districts. Seven tribal families joined in
the migration, of which tribes the Aztecs were the chief. They settled
at Lake Texcoco in 1325, directed there, according to tradition, by the
sign given by an eagle perched on a prickly pear and strangling a
serpent, the device that later formed the arms of Mexico.
160 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
At Lake Texcoco the Aztecs built the city of Tenochtitlan, and in
1376, the first authentic date in Mexican history, Huitzilihuitl was
chosen king. The Aztecs quickly gained the supremacy over other
tribes and maintained their strength until Montezuma I (1440-1469)
sought to combine the powers of king and priest and allowed, the priest
clan to gain the dominance. These priestly rulers, who practically
controlled the country, were probably responsible for the introduction
and maintenance of the custom of sacrifice and grewsome rites of
worship, described by early historians. In 1502 Montezuma II was
elected king. Cortez entered Mexico in November, 1519, and by 1521
had completed his conquest.
In the Forbes collection are a large number of the curious clay and
stone idols of the tribes, frequently only the heads, but sometimes the
entire figure. No effort was made to give these representations of
divinity, individuality or beauty. Except for the projecting armor that
encircles his neck,, the god of war might be the wizards' god.
A relic of ancient witch beliefs is a fragment of human frontal bone,
rudely scratched with figures and used by the witches of Guerrero in
their weird ceremonies. It looks not unlike Alaskan work.
As a check on immoderate drinkers or a reminder to an Aztec
pulque seller was a drinking bowl, with stones in its hollow feet, so
that the bowl rattles loudly whenever it is picked up. There could be
no stolen drinks with such a utensil.
Carved stone money, stone spinning whorls, charms of green stone,
probably jadeite; ceremonial dance masks of singular hideousness,
pulque jars, oil and water vessels, incense burners, bead charms, neck-
laces, Guatemalan amulets used centuries ago by Maya priests — the
Mayas were one of the earliest peoples, living in modern Guatemala,
Yucatan and other Central American districts — fragments of carved
stone and other objects make up the collection.
A display of Mexican pottery of more modern type occupies two
cases, showing the natural-colored clayware and the popular and
effective vermilion with its bold designs in black. The background for
this and other exhibits in the Mexican division is made up of magnificent
scrapes and blankets given by Mr. de Young.
Miscellaneous articles in the Mexican division include a clay Aztec
calendar, these people having worked out a most intricate and com-
prehensive method of dividing time; Talavera ware, the Mexican
adaptation of the Spanish faience; bead work; the characteristic Mexi-
can feather work; brass articles, candlesticks and bowls; basketry;
native raincoats of heavy grass-like tules; jewelry, weapons, house-
hold utensils, and a large collection of native work.
In another case is a collection of Russian costume dolls presented
by Mr. de Young. These dolls, about sixty in number, are dressed in
made costumes or modeled in clay, costume and all. They are designed
to show every style of Russian peasant costume as well as the national
costumes of the better classes.
A case is devoted to shoes, boots and slippers. Here are Japanese
sandals, Chinese shoes, including the tiny footgear of the women with
bound feet; Persian sandals of wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl;
slippers from Smyrna ; boys and girls' shoes from Calcutta, adorned
with beads; Turkish shoes from Constantinople; a pair of slippers,
once the property of a chief in Kandy, Ceylon, that are amazingly
decorated, beaded and embroidered, with their long toes turned back
In a half-circle; Russian and Damascus boots of embroidered leather;
Italian sandals; curious bast shoes from Russia, clumsy bark sandals
PIPES, SHOES AND MEXICAN 161
worn by peasants and tied on with cords, a style of shoe which gave
way to more comfortable boots only in comparatively recent decades
and is still worn in some districts; and a large number of miniature
shoes, Dutch clogs, moccasins, Italian shoes, Egyptian slippers.
Pipes of all varieties are shown in another case. There is a Chinese
opium set, complete from pipe to pill, as well as Turkish water pipes,
hookahs, nargilehs, hubble-bubbles and other Oriental pipes with odd
names; long-stemmed German and Dutch pipes with porcelain or carved
bowls; meerschaums, carved ivory pipes and even the humble corncob.
A most elaborate example of saddlery occupies a case by itself.
It is the heavily silver-mounted outfit used by Dixie Thompson, a
well-known horseman of the early days, for parade purposes. The
saddle, bridle and accessories are covered almost solidly with silver.
The outfit was made in 1889, when Thompson lived at Santa Barbara.
A case is filled with trophies' won in early bicycle races by the
Bay City Wheelmen, and an example of their "iron steeds," an old-
fashioned high-wheeled bicycle, is in another gallery.
Three unusual saddles are here; one a camel saddle, a highly un-
comfortable looking affair, which must have its share in the traditional
discomfort of camel riding; an Argentine saddle, used by the Argentine
version of cowboys, and an old Spanish saddle with green velvet
upholstery and embroidered leather flaps. It is in side-saddle form,
and apparently served some lovely senorita of the early California days.
The grandfather of all typewriters is exhibited in the shape of the
"Remington No. 1," a model made in 1873, which wrote capital letters
only. Another old "caligraph" and several old-time sewing machines
are shown.
Two cases hold Mr. de Young's valuable collection of antique knives
and forks. These are examples of Flemish, French, Portuguese, Italian,
Spanish and German work of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, going back to the time when every diner carried his own
"tools" with him in a special case. The blades of the knives are
sometimes elaborately chased, and the handles are of bone, ivory,
porcelain, carved wood or metal, in most attractive period designs.
With the rust of centuries carefully scoured from their blades, the
old table utensils look now much as they must have done when their,
owners laid them down for the last time.
Knives were not placed on the table until the close of the fifteenth
century, each person carrying his own with him. Knives, spoons and
fingers served for all table purposes before forks were introduced. An
early book of instruction for children warns its youthful readers "pick
not thy teeth with thy knife."
According to the eleventh century Italian priest and scholar, Peter
Damiani, forks were introduced into Italy by a Byzantine princess and
their use spread rapidly throughout Italy. In France they are first
mentioned in the inventory of the property of Charles V in 1379. As
late as the sixteenth century, the use of forks to eat with was satirized
as a novelty, although they were commonly used for serving. In
French and Scottish convents, the use of forks was sometimes for-
bidden as sinful.
Thomas Coryate, who visited Italy in 1608, is credited with bringing
the new fashion to England. As late as 1688, few noblemen owned
more than a dozen forks.
The first forks had two prongs. Another prong was added, but four-
pronged forks did not arrive until the end of the seventeenth century.
The Clock Collection
Ancestors of Modern Timepieces — First Regarded As
Curiosities — Automatic Clocks Popular in Orient —
American Clockmakers Led the World.
In the entrance gallery of the Royal Bavarian Pavilion, where for
years the coin collection was placed, the museum's exhibit of clocks
now finds shelter. About the walls stand tall grandfather clocks of
various types, and glass cases hold a large number of French clocks
of elaborate design and brilliant gilt.
The sundial, the clepsydra or water clock, the hour glass with its
sand, and candle clocks painted with bands indicating the hours, were
the ancestors of the modern clock. Revival of interest in sundials, espe-
cially for the adornment of gardens, has made them familiar objects.
In front of the museum stands a good example of a sundial, a large
bronze affair dedicated to the first navigators who reached the Cali-
fornia coasts.
The clepsydra operated on the principle of the hour glass with water
instead of sand to run through the hole. It was less accurate than the
sand glass, however, as changes in temperature affected the rate at
which the water flowed.
The first clock that resembled modern styles was made when some
unknown inventor devised a scheme by which the water flowing
through the clepsydra was made to fall on a revolving wheel and turn
the hands on a dial. Just who invented clocks is an unsettled ques-
tion, although claimants range all the way from the Chinese of 2000
B. C. to the Germans of the eleventh century.
Clocks first appeared in Europe about the thirteenth century, and
were regarded as curiosities. They were all large affairs, designed to
be placed in the towers of city buildings or on churches. Clocks for
home use came later.
In 1288 a clock is recorded as having been erected at Westminster
and in 1292 the Canterbury cathedral clock was put in place. Other
cathedral cities followed suit, clocks were placed on town halls, and
their use in public places spread rapidly.
The first small or portable clocks are attributed to a German clock-
maker, De Souabe, who lived about 1300, but the first recorded men-
tion of a "clock made so that he might carry it with him every place
whither he might go," is dated 1480.
Chime clocks are first mentioned as the property of Margaret of
Valois in 1577. German inventors, with their fondness for elaborate de-
tail, began making automatic clocks with figures that moved and struck
the hours in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. These
were the predecessors of the intricate tower clocks found in many
European cities with whole processions of moving figures. Automatic
clocks of this type were frequently made at the order of Oriental
princes and potentates, whose display-loving souls delighted in the
complicated trickery of the clocks.
Under Louis IV boule work, the inlay of metal and wood invented
THE CLOCK COLLECTION 163
by Boule, was applied to clock cases as well as to other forms of work,
and this paved the way for ornamentation of clocks, resulting in the
elaborate gilt affairs characteristic of a later French period.
The earliest known specimen of an English grandfather or tall
clock is dated 1681.
The museum collection of French mantel clocks, given by Mr. de
Young, is representative of the early eighteenth century. It includes
a large number of examples of the ornate gilt and enamel type favored
by the clockmakers of Louis XV and Louis XVI, some with designs
in inlay, others with panels of enamel and surmounted by gilt figure
groups.
Clocks of similar description, given by other donors, complete the
display of mantel clocks.
A curious example of East Indian work is a clock from Burma,
made in elaborate Oriental design, like a pagoda, with elephants and
other Far Eastern creatures figuring in the intricate carving of the
case. The single hand is a metal lizard and the numerals are in Hin-
dustani.
Another Oriental example is a Japanese clock, with intricate brass
works and weights showing through its glass case.
A touch of romance surrounds one of the old English mantel clocks.
It was found in Tsing Tau, China, and, while its case is of teakwood
and the square face, in which the dial is set, is of brass carved with
Chinese designs, the dial, hands and works are of English manufacture,
apparently of the middle eighteenth century. The English clock must
have drifted to China in the vagaries of trade, where a Chinese artificer
removed its original case and substiuted the present case and brass face.
A typical American clock of the early nineteenth century, char-
acteristic of the workmanlike clocks that gave American makers the
leadership of the world, is marked on the dial, "Seth Thomas,
Plymouth."
The grandfather clocks are English, French and Dutch in origin.
Most of the French clocks are signed on the dial with the name of
the maker, "Piettre et Yvetot," "Thiout, Paris," "Leon Chappelle a
Luxueil les Bains," "L. Dauthiau. Her. (horologer. or clockmakers)
au Roy a Paris." The first of these four examples is a Louis VI
clock in a tall carved case; the second belongs to the Louis XIV period
and has an ebonized case with ormolu mountings; the third probably
about the same time, and the fourth is a Louis XV example, with a case
of walnut and marquetry, especially beautiful in design and decoration.
One of the French clocks shows the method of decoration invented by
Boule and bearing his name. Its case of dark wood is inlaid with
metal.
A seventeenth century clock from Normandy is unusual for its
slender height. Its case is of carved wood in elaborate design.
Quaint old grandfather clocks from Amsterdam, dating back to
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, show a popular form of clock
decoration — the dials on which the days and phases of the moon were
indicated. These dials, or, rather, semi-circular faces, were placed
above the regular hour dial, and a little moon, often with features,
moved across them to indicate the phases.
A typical English hall clock of the seventeenth century came from
the workshop of Hugh Pannell, clock and watch maker of North Aller-
ton, whose name is lettered on the dial. Over the dial, in painstaking
lettering, Is the inscription, "Take time by ye forelock." The case of
this clock is of black oak, carved with designs and figures.
Royal Bavarian Pavilion
A German Living-Room Copied in All Its Details — Copies
of Rooms in Foreign Palaces — Copy of the Blue and
Gold Room of a Munich Palace.
Four rooms of the Memorial Museum are unique in that the gal-
leries themselves, as well as their contents, are exhibits. These are
the four rooms that are housed in the semi-detached building between
the original Egyptian unit and the first new unit, and include the
three rooms of the Royal Bavarian Pavilion and the old German room.
One of the rooms of the Bavarian Pavilion is the Napoleon gallery and
the other two, for years devoted to jewels and coins, now house col-
lections of clocks and other objects.
The three small rooms that make up the Royal Bavarian Pavilion
are a reproduction of some of the most famous rooms in the royal
palace of King Ludwig of Bavaria at Munich, and were erected by
the German Government at the Chicago Columbian Exposition. Later
they were sent, to the Midwinter Exposition at San Francisco and there
purchased entire by Mr. de Young as one of the selections made
from the Midwinter Exposition exhibits, moved to a position adjacent to
the museum building and enclosed in the present housing. The German
Government is said to have spent $81,000 in building the rooms and
sending them to Chicago and San Francisco.
Ludwig of Bavaria (1786-1868) was a monarch of very picturesque
career. Caring less for affairs of state than for patronage of the arts
and enjoyment of momentary pleasures, he encouraged scholars, was a
friend and patron of Goethe, wrote poems, ordered the erection of
many beautiful public buildings and generally lent his aid to fine arts.
His private life was of a less commendable character, and his in-
fatuation for Lola Montez, the dancer, was a contributing feature to
the public unrest that brought about the revolution of 1848, as a re-
sult of which Ludwig resigned the throne to his son, Maximilian.
Maximilian, according to history, was a very different type of
ruler. Ludwig had collected a gallery of portraits of beautiful women,
among whom the Montez was prominent. Maximilian promptly re-
moved her picture, but, if the picturesque story is to be credited, the
tapestry walls of the gallery showed such a contrast between the some-
what faded background and the unfaded square where Lola's portrait
had hung that Maximilian had to order the entire room done over.
Work on the Munich palace was completed by Ludwig II, son
of Maximilian, who succeeded his father in 1864. This second Ludwig
was an eccentric bachelor, devoted to the arts and excelling even his
grandfather in the lavish nature of his encouragement to painters,
architects and other artists. Regardless of expense, he ordered the
construction of many buildings, palaces, art galleries and other struc-
tures, running the country deeply into debt to pay for his freaks. At
last his unbridled extravagance caused his ministers to take steps
to restrain him, and on June 10, 1886, he was formally declared in-
ROYAL BAVARIAN PAVILION 165
sane. Three days later he escaped from his guards and drowned him-
self in the waters of the river.
Reached by a short flight of" steps from the adjacent gallery, the
first room of the three, originally devoted to the coin collection, is
copied from a dining-room in the palace. The heavy beams and
window casements of dark wood are painted in elaborate floral de-
signs, the work of Otto Hupp of Schleissheim. Gabriel Seidl, a re-
nowned German architect, supervised the work of designing the group
of rooms, assisted by the leading artists and builders of the nation.
The second room, the largest of the three, where the jewel col-
lection was on display for years, is copied from another palace room,
with every detail of the elaborate decoration faithfully carried out.
The frescoes, inlaid designs, marquetry, marble work and wood carv-
ings of the original rooms are reproduced in minute detail and color,
even to the coloring of the marble.
The vaulted ceiling is adorned with frescoes representing scenes
from the Nibelungenlied, painted 'by Von Lenbach, Rudolph Seitz and
H. Kellner, leading German artists. The beautiful marquetry doors are
by Joseph Rathgeber of Munich.
Covering the walls are damask brocade tapestries in deep crim-
son, reproducing the design of the original wall coverings and woven
by court weavers especially for this use.
Door and window casings, and the elaborate marble fireplace, are
exact copies of the originals.
Opening off this room is one of the most interesting and im-
portant rooms of the museum, the small semicircular gallery where
are displayed the Napoleonic relics. They are placed in a room that
is copied from the Blue and Gold Room of the Munich Palace, its
walls hung with tan-colored velvet and its woodwork beautifully
decorated.
A room that invariably attracts much attention also opens from
the central hall of the Bavarian pavilion. It is the old German living-
room, reproducing in its massive style the type of room found in many
an old-time house of Germany or Holland. The work was done by
pupils of the Royal Technical School of Berlin.
The entire room is of carved oak and is built without nails, the
sections carefully fitted and mortised together. There is a large bay
window fronting the door, its panes of heavy glass in a design of
small circles — an effect that has made many a visitor believe that he
was gazing into the family wine cellar, so exactly does the design
resemble the bottoms of bottles, laid row on row. The room contains
a large fireplace and mantel, a characteristic built-in bed, cabinet, door
bench and several pieces of furniture, all in accurate detail and elab-
orately hand carved.
Over the door, window and bed are carved inscriptions in old
Dutch, reading as follows: Over the window, "Lever Dod as Slav"
(Rather Dead Than a Slave) ; over the door, "In Nord und Sud de
Welt is Wit, in Ost und West to Hus is Best" (In North and South
the World is Wide, in East and West, Home is Best) ; over the bed,
"Slap in Sta Op" (Sleep in or Stay Away).
Some good examples of old Delft ware are placed on the fireplace
mantel and on the plate rails.
The Napoleonic Collection
A Remarkable Assemblage of Relics of the First French
Emperor — Objects Personally Used by Him and Con-
nected With His Activities — Relics of Great Frenchmen.
It is a triumph of collection that the Memorial Museum, thousands
of miles distant from the scenes of Napoleon's activities and beginning
its work many years after other museums, more fortuitously placed,
had thoroughly explored the fascinating field of Napoleonic history,
has been able to gather together such a remarkable collection of per-
sonal and important relics of the Corsican as may be found in the
Napoleon room. Intimate souvenirs are accompanied by certificates
of authenticity, and every article in the room has been thoroughly and
exhaustively investigated and its history traced, so that no doubt
rests on the historical value of the collection.
The Napoleon relics now occupy two galleries of the old building,
the inner rooms of the Royal Bavarian Pavilion. The smallest room
of the three, a semicircular alcove of considerable size, is given over
to the exhibition of the famous gilt bed, the gilt throne chair, two
magnificent Sevres vases painted by Despre after Meissonier with
scenes depicting the battle of Austerlitz and the return from Moscow,
a good bronze of Napoleon and a number of engravings and other
pictures of Napoleon and his associates.
In the gallery adjoining, with its crimson brocade walls, are dis-
played the more personal relics. Here, in wall cases, are the smaller
articles associated with the Emperor, documents and miniatures.
This gallery also contains as floor exhibits several interesting
examples of unique transportation. In the center of the gallery is a
large sleigh of French make, dating to the period of Louis XIV. There
is also a picturesque sedan chair of the Louis XVI period, decorated
with panels "en vernis Martin," or adorned with the famous varnish
that bears the name of its inventor. The chair is upholstered Inside
with pink brocade and probably served to carry some fair lady of the
time to court balls. A Dutch sledge and a Russian sledge, small and
not particularly comfortable in appearance, complete this display.
Several small marbles and vases are also exhibited in this gallery.
Occupying a place of honor in the room is one of the seven throne
chairs used by Napoleon during his reign. It was a whim of the
Emperor to have throne chairs conveniently distributed about his em-
pire, that he might always find proper accommodation on his journeys.
Seven of these chairs are known to have been installed in various
palaces; the example in the Memorial Museum has been traced to the
Palace of St. Cloud.
During the advance of the Prussians in 1870 and the destruction
of French property, the throne chair in question was secretly removed
from the palace by a loyal Frenchman, who sought to keep the treasure
from falling into the hands of the invaders. So successfully did he
hide it in a cellar filled with rubbish that it was entirely forgotten
THE NAPOLEONIC COLLECTION 167
until the death of its preserver, when his heirs rescued it from the
rubbish heap and sold it. Its removal to the United States was
accomplished by an adroit bit of diplomancy, for such a valuable relic
could not easily be taken from, the country ; but removed it was, and
it now forms one of the chief exhibits of the room. Bernard Franck,
the famous expert on the Napoleonic period, has certified to the authen-
ticity of the chair.
The chair itself is a typical First Empire piece, carved and gilded,
and with rose tapestry back and seat, the back embroidered with the
golden "N." The hand-rests at the ends of the arms are round balls of
wood, and although the rest of the chair is brilliant with gilt, these
balls are bare of adornment and smoothly polished. A picturesque bit
of history attaches to this absence of gilding. Napoleon, as all biogra-
phers state, was of an extremely nervous and restless disposition and
one way in which this was manifested was in his habit of incessantly
handling objects. As his hands 'rested on these wooden balls, the
story goes, his fingers were in constant motion, rubbing and moving
over the originally gilded surface until the gilt was worn off and the
wood polished to a satin finish.
Another unique relic contained in the collection is the elaborate
carved and gilded bedstead, a reminiscence of one of Napoleon's many
affaires du coeur. The heroine of the story was the • beautiful Mile.
Mars of the Comedie Francaise and the bedstead, Napoleon's gift to
her, is a copy of Napoleon's own bed in the royal palace of the Tuil-
eries. A suggestion of the Emperor's small stature is found in the ab-
breviated length of the bed, for a man of even ordinary height would
be puzzled to find comfort in it. The bed is a massive affair of carved
wood, covered with heavy gilding, with figures supporting the four
corners. Head and foot are tapestried with rose silk, worn by time
and the ruthless attacks of souvenir hunters.
Over the bed hang two excellent engravings of Mile. Mars, un-
earthed by Mr. de Young in Paris antique shops.
On the wall over the throne chair hangs a relic of another Napo-
leon— the Aubusson tapestry table cover which was among the wedding
gifts of Napoleon III and Eugenie at their marriage on January 30,
1852. Another relic of this later Napoleon is found in the framed birth
certificate of Mathilde Louise Eugenie Lacour, a godchild of Napoleon
and Eugenie. Mathilde Louise Eugenie attained this distinction by
being born on March 16, 1856, the day of the birth of the Prince Im-
perial. Napoleon and Eugenie signified their pride of parenthood by
standing godparents to all children of France born on that day.
The Napoleon family group is portrayed in a collection of minia-
tures arranged in a wall case. There one sees Napoleon himself as a
young man and in later years; Marie Louise, Josephine, the pathetic
little King of Rome, and Napoleon's sisters, brothers and mother.
One case contains six miniatures signed "David, 1810." They portray
Napoleon, Josephine, Murat, Ney, Mme. Tallien and Duchesse d'Abrantes.
The collection is rich in personal relics. There is an inkstand
often used by Napoleon — It is fascinating to imagine what plans of
world-empire were drafted, what history-making documents were writ-
ten as the Emperor dipped his pen into this massively plain brass and
glass inkstand. Another supreme moment in Napoleon's life is recalled
by a bit of brass tubing, prosaic at first glance, but endowed with sig-
nificance and romance in the realization that these few inches' of brass
formed the tube of the telescope used by Napoleon on his return jour-
ney from Elba, gazing toward the land whose empire he sought.
168 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Pictures of Napoleon have made the world familiar with an in-
variable feature of his dress — the plastron or X-shaped waistcoat worn
with his uniform coat. Here in one of the wall cases is this very
plastron, a white felt affair showing signs of wear. With it is a wide
piece of time-faded red ribbon, the ribbon of the Legion of Honor worn
by the Emperor, and a pair of shoulder straps. Most intimately per-
sonal of all is a lock of brown hair. All these relics are given certifica-
tion of authenticity in letters signed by Evrard, valet to Napoleon and
as famous in his way as his master was in his greater fashion.
A wooden flute used by Napoleon pictures his lighter moments, as
a map of Waterloo, a facsimile of a plan of the battle of St. Jean d'Arc,
drawn by Napoleon himself, and several Waterloo relics recall his
days of war. The romance of the Brussels night of June 18, 1815, when
"lights gleamed on fair women and brave men," is brought to the
imagination by a pair of ivory dice boxes, used in the play of that
night by English officers, who, the next day, were to join in the mo-
mentous conflict of Waterloo. These boxes were given to Dr. W. H.
Cluness by an English patient in the hospital after the battle, and have
passed from hand to hand before reaching their final resting place
on the museum shelves.
Completing the Napoleon cycle are relics of the last tragic days at
St. Helena. Treasured under glass are half a dozen fragments of
wall paper from the rooms of the house the deposed Emperor occupied
during those grim years, and the final chapter is written in a handful
of withered leaves gathered from the tomb of Napoleon.
Documentary relics are numerous, including several signatures, let-
ters and hasty sketches.
In the Napoleon room are also relics of two other great French-
men— a letter signed by Cardinal Richelieu and several documents
bearing the signature of Victor Hugo.
The student of Napoleon will not, however, confine his museum
researches to this gallery. Several other galleries must be visited; the
coin gallery, where is placed the splendid collection of Napoleonic
medals and coins; the art gallery, where hangs Feodoroff's power-
ful painting of Napoleon's "Last Day at Moscow"; the engrav-
ing collection, for inspection of a remarkably complete exhibit of
Napoleonic cartoons, largely English caricature; the armor hall,
to see helmets, guns and swords of the period, including the sword
once the property of Murat; the nautical exhibit, where one of the
treasured relics is a battered piece of wood, the stem of the ship
Natalie, on which Napoleon voyaged from Elba to France, and the
cases of miniatures in one of the art galleries to study the portraits
of Napoleon and the men and women of his time.
A Gallery of Replicas
Reproductions of Antique Greek Statuary, a Gift From the
Government of Greece — the Great Works of the Sculptors
of Ancient Greece Well Represented.
As the gift of the Greek Government from the collection
exhibited by Greece at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915, the
museum added to its treasures an entire gallery full of reproductions
of antique Greek statuary, including several very famous pieces, as
well as characteristic fragments of various periods.
The most prominent feature of the collection is a reproduction
of the world-famous Laocoon. The group, the original of which was
discovered on the side of Esquiline hill, in Rome, in 1506, and bought
by Pope Julian II for the Vatican, is a representation of Laocoon, a
priest of Apollo, and his two sons at the moment when serpents, sent
by the angered god, came from the sea to destroy them. Laocoon
incurred the wrath of Apollo by warning the Trojans against the
ruse of the Wooden Horse. In revenge, Apollo sent two giant ser-
pents to destroy the priest and his sons while they were officiating
at an altar on the seashore. The incident is described by Virgil in
the Eneid.
The group is said to be the work of three Rhodesian sculptors,
Agesander, Polydorus and Athenodorus, and dates back to the last
forty years before the beginning of the Christian era. It is there-
fore representative not of the best period of pure Greek sculpture,
but of the years after the Roman conquest, when other influences
were being exercised upon the Greeks, causing them to lose their
loyalty to the ideals of beauty and perfection.
Greek sculpture has been divided by authorities into four prin-
cipal periods — Archaic, extending to 480 B. C., or the period of the
Persian wars; Attic, 480 to 323 B. C., when Athens was the center
of Greek glory and the most wonderful buildings of that city were
erected; Hellenistic, 323 to 146 B. C., ending with the Roman con-
quest; and the final period from the Roman conquest to 330 A. D..
when Constantine transferred the capital of his empire from Rome
to Byzantium or Constantinople, and the Byzantine period began, to
continue until the fall of Constantinople in 1204.
The Archaic period was largely formative. With the Egyptians
as their first teachers, the earliest Greek sculptors followed the for-
mal, unnatural style of their instructors. The pose of the early
Archaic statues is Egyptian; arms are stiffly held, or, more usually,
placed closely at the sides; faces are expressionless and lines are
angular. The first Greek temples and monuments do not date back
farther than about 700 B. C., and sculpture in the round goes back to
about 650 B. C.
After a period of careful adherence to Egyptian teachings, the
natural Greek love of beauty began to assert itself, and an increas-
ing freedom became manifest in the pose of the statues and the ex-
170 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
pression of the faces. Sculptors dared to lift the arms of their figures,
turn the heads, move the legs in the attitude of walking.
The glory of the Attic period of sculpture was largely due to
the influence of the Greek games. Here sculptors and public alike
had an opportunity to study the human body in the poses of action.
No finer school could have been devised than the Olympic games
with their runners, discus throwers and splendid young athletes at
the height of their powers. There came a growing demand for statues
of athletes, and the sculptors hastened to supply it. Such statues as
the Discobolus, the Runners and others, shown in the museum both
in plaster reproduction and in bronze, illustrate the work of this
period.
The fifth century B. C., known as the age of Phidias, was the
period of Greek glory in art. During this century came the erection
of such architectural marvels as the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the
Erectheum, the Propylae and other great buildings. Sculpture was
applied to the decoration of these structures and the tendency was
toward idealization.
An interesting development of Greek statuary, especially at this
time, was the carving of steles or tombstones. Many of these pieces
are numbered among the museum reproductions. The carvings on
the steles, in medium relief, commonly represented the dead man or
woman engaged in the avocations of daily life, sitting among rela-
tives and friends, reading, sometimes playing with pet animals, with
no suggestion of death or the grave. Only occasionally is a stele
found on which mourners are represented.
The fourth century was the time of Praxiteles, known for his
splendid semi-portrait statues, especially of young men. The Hermes
of Praxiteles, a reproduction of which is included in the museum
collection, is one of the most famous pieces of all Greek sculpture.
At this time more attention was paid to individual work; there was
less of state enterprise, fewer great buildings were erected and
sculptors turned from idealization to portraiture. More care was
given to the modeling of faces, as the Hermes and other statues show.
The Theater of Dionysius at Athens was the great architectural
enterprise of the century. A reproduction of a priest's chair from
this theater is in the museum.
With the conquests of Alexander at the beginning of the Hel-
lenistic period came the influence of the Orient. A tendency arose
to commemorate great national events, campaigns and battles, with
massive monuments. In the designing of these, backgrounds came
in for more attention. Lysippos, a sculptor of this period, is credited
with the original of a Hermes, a copy of which is reproduced for the
museum, and comparison between this and the Hermes of a century
earlier is interesting. Among the famous statues of this period are
such figures as the Nike or Victory of Samothrace, the Dying Gaul
and others.
With the beginning of the Roman period, Greek art lost its
originality. Greece was thoroughly plundered to enrich her conquer-
ors, and so many outside influences entered that Greek sculptors be-
came merely copyists.
Historical Objects
Vallejo Carriage — Doors From Newgate Prison — Old
Documents — Autographs — Old Newspapers.
Installed in the gallery of the old unit that for years housed the
nautical collection is a display of miscellaneous objects of general
historical interest. The greater part of the exhibit is made up of old
documents, yellowed old newspapers, legal papers of Revolutionary
days, time-worn letters and similar material. Historical material deal-
ing with California and San Francisco is also found in the Pioneer
gallery.
Two unique items in the exhibit are the Newgate door and the
Vallejo carriage. The carriage, an old-fashioned barouche, was brought
from England to Sonoma in 1830 and served General Vallejo, that
picturesque figure of early California days, when he wished to ride
in state.
The Newgate door is touched with the romance that centers about
the daring figures of the highwaymen of Georgian days when the
belated traveler was likely to find his post-chaise halted on a lonely
road and himself relieved of his valuables. It is the end of the story
that is recalled by the battered old door, for behind this door, when it
swung on its hinges at cell No. 25 of the Newgate prison death row
lay in their turn, Dick Turpin, Jack Sheppard and Paul Clifford, prob-
ably the most notorious of the gentlemen of the road. The records of
the prison show that these three prisoners occupied No. 25 in the row
of thirty four cells, and here, miles away from its London jail, is the
door of that very cell.
In addition to Turpin, Sheppard and Clifford, all of whom ended
their careers on Tyburn Hill, the records show that this particular
cell at one time housed American seamen, captured during the
Revolution.
The door was taken from the prison in 1902 when the building
was razed. Newgate was then fallen to ruin inside its walls. The
cells of death row, underground and dismal, were a heap of debris
from which the door was rescued.
Autograph letters and documents form an interesting and valuable
part of the collection. There are several letters written by George
Washington to his officers of the Revolutionary army, approving their
actions and making suggestions. Other autographs are of Frederick
the Great of Prussia (1740), William Penn, Wellington and other
notables of the world's history.
The old documents cover a wide field. Many letters of a century
or so ago are shown. There are deeds and land grants, some roughly
written, some engrossed in the intricate style that ruled before the
days of typewriters and printing. So delicately minute is the lettering
of some of these old documents that they can be read only by decipher-
ing one word after another.
172 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Colonial land grants, deeds to property now in the hearts of great
cities and then untilled farm land, contracts and many other docu-
ments are collected in the well-arranged cases.
An interesting item is the pay roll of Colonel James Robichaux'a
battalion "in the service of America," of which Colonel James Living-
ston was apparently in temporary command, according to the docu-
ment. The pay roll, covering the months of April and May, 1775, show*
that the "wages for one month in lawfull money" were twelve pounds
for a captain, eight pounds for a lieutenant and two pounds for a
private. The new Nation had not yet reached the point of using its
own coinage, and English money was current. The captain of that
day, with his twelve pounds a month and the private with his two
pounds could scarcely be said to be serving their country for financial
gain.
The collection of old newspapers is especially large and interesting.
Among the items is a Saturday Evening Post for April 24, 1830, "devoted
to literature, morality, science, news, agriculture and amusement," a
fairly extensive field and one that affords interesting comparison with
its modern descendant.
Many of the old newspapers are valuable for their accounts of
momentous historical events, decisive battles, important elections,
scientific achievements, industrial enterprise and great events of world
news. Early California newspapers are also represented here as
well as in the Pioneer gallery, the collection giving a valuable sum-
mary of the State's history from the time of the first little publication.
A case of old-time almanacs of the Poor Richard variety is unique
and complete.
Portraiture of a century ago is illustrated in a case of daguerreo-
types, silhouettes, tintypes, ambrotypes and similar predecessors of the
modern photograph. The quaint faded pictures with the old-fashioned
costumes and stiffly correct poses of their subjects are delightful.
A programme found in the Lincoln box at Ford's theater on the
night of Lincoln's assassination is an example of the miscellaneous
collection of historical treasures.
The Colonial Exhibit
Old-Time Kitchen and Bedroom Reproduced — Loom and
Spinning Wheels — Revolutionary Relics — China and
Earthenware.
In the new arrangement of the museum, two galleries are de-
voted to the, display of the large collection of Colonial-period objects,
a very representative and interesting exhibit of the industry, art and
daily life of a century and a half ago.
The Colonial kitchen and bedroom are quaint corners that in-
variably attract attention. In the corner gallery a huge stone fireplace
has been constructed, with the heavy plain mantel of Colonial days.
Antique andirons, kettles, griddle irons, tongs, bellows and similar
articles of fireside use are placed here in most appropriate surround-
ings. On the shelf above are ranged dozens of objects of daily use —
candlesticks, snuffers, hour glasses, warming pans, jugs and bowls,
old kitchenware — and all the collection of quaintly fashioned utensils
that served the housekeeper of Revolutionary days.
Hung from the heavy beams of the kitchen are bunches of herbs,
ears of corn, battered old lanterns and just such an array of miscel-
laneous objects as dangled from the beams of the old-time rooms.
The clumsy kitchen utensils, farm tools, warming pans and larger
articles hung against the wall, bring vividly to mind some of the
difficulties of Colonial housekeeping and farm tending.
Next door to the kitchen is a fascinating corner that inevitably
calls forth interested comment. Here, beside a window draped with
neat white curtains, is placed an old-time four-poster bed of rich dark
wood, with the turned pilasters and canopy of a century ago. It is
covered with an old hand-woven spread and the pillows are embroidered.
Close beside it stands a roughly made little cradle, with pillows and
quilt, in which some Colonial baby doubtless was rocked to sleep.
Old-fashioned rag rugs are on the floor.
Among the larger objects of the Colonial collection is a loom used
in New Haven in 1749, a clumsy affair of heavy, rude beams and treadles.
Hanging in a wall case is one of the patterns used by the New Haven
weaver, a curious and cryptic scrawl of letters and numerals.
The collection of spinning wheels is large and interesting. There
are American, German and French specimens, dating back to the
seventeenth and eighteenth century, and representing all types of
wheels from the little flax wheel to the tall affair for spinning wool.
Reels, bobbins, apparatus for combing the wool and other necessities of
the spinner are also shown.
What difficulties the farmer of 1775 had to overcome are illustrated
In the display of farm tools. The ox yoke evokes a picture of the
farm motive power of the period. Wooden plows, presses, home-made
axes, heavy spades and hoes, and other tools show that modern im-
provements were still far distant.
174 M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Revolutionary relics are contained in one case, including flintlock
muskets, powder horns, bullet pouches, knapsacks and other military
material.
Bits of Colonial furniture are arranged about the gallery, to com-
plete the furnishings of the kitchen and as individual exhibits. A
worn old table, evidently of home manufacture, rush-bottomed chairs,
low fireside stools and wall cupboards are among the specimens. An
interesting exhibit is a rudely made cradle used in Chicago when that
city was a settlement of only five houses.
In the wall cases of the two galleries are large numbers of objects
of brass, pewter, silver, china and earthenware, as well as an excellent
collection of needlework.
The pewter display is especially good, including bowls, pitchers,
jugs and dishes of all shapes and sizes. Pewter was a luxury in the
days of the Pilgrims. Wooden trenchers served these hardy pioneers,
and, even up to later days, wooden dishes appeared on many tables.
Before the Revolution pewter was very popular and took the place of
silver dishes, except for the wealthy. The London Guild of Pewterers
was one of the important trade organizations of the time.
About the beginning of the seventeenth century American pewter
makers began to develop the industry, taught by English pewterers who
came tp this country in earlier years. Richard Graves and Henry
Shrimpton are notable names among these English migrants who
brought the knowledge of their handicraft across the sea.
Until the Revolution opened the way for the development of
American trade with foreign countries, china, except for native prod-
ucts, was little used. After American ships began to visit the ports
of the Far East, however, Oriental porcelain became the fad and pewter
lost its importance. It was still largely used, however, and is fre-
quently mentioned in advertisements and records of the early eighteenth
century.
Old wills contain many paragraphs referring to treasured pewter.
The will of Governor Bradford of Massachusetts leaves to his heirs
"fourteen pewter dishes, thirteen platters, three large plates and three
small ones, one pewter candlestick and one pewter bottle." Miles
Standish is credited with bequeathing to his heirs "sixteen pewter plates
and twelve wooden trenchers."
An interesting collection is of articles used in the family of Presi-
dent Polk. The exhibit includes many pieces of china and silver, articles
of wearing apparel, embroidery, shawls, documents and other objects.
The cases devoted to china and earthenware are well filled with
a representative display of the work of the period. Especially good is
the collection of Colonial pottery, including examples of the Stafford-
shire school, majolica, ironstone, Wedgwood and other wares, with
many of the pictorial plates and dishes that are so valued by collectors.
A picturesque and quaint array of tobys may be found in one case.
These jugs of pottery, with their shapes wrought into the plump forms
of jovial old tipplers, mirthful faces, cocked hats, costumes and all
complete, are delightfully humorous and individual.
Old silver spoons form an interesting collection in one wall case,
and other examples of Colonial silverware are assembled in the general
exhibit. There is a good display of the highly valued lustre ware.
Samplers, lace, embroidery, hand-woven spreads, patchwork quilts,
knitted stockings, silken mitts, bead bags and many other examples
of the beautiful handiwork of Colonial women are gathered in a fasci-
nating array.
THE COLONIAL EXHIBIT 175
The patient fingers of little girls of long ago wrought the samplers,
with their dutifully pious inscriptions, their alphabets, their borders
of astonishing flowers and more astonishing men and women. The
names of the youthful makers and the date were almost invariably added
to the decoration, so that samplers have the advantage over almost
every form of antique in that they can be accurately dated and credited.
The embroidery includes several tiny bonnets for long-ago babies,
wedding shawls, handkerchiefs, ruffles and flounces, bits of adornment
for gowns, and even the formal "tidy" that was the delight of the care-
ful housewife.
Patchwork quilts in the intricate patterns understandable only by
expert needlewomen, hand-woven spreads in thick, fluffy white, and
some of the beautiful old blue and white spreads that are so valued
by their fortunate owners, as well as dozens of miscellaneous examples
of old-time needlework are gathered in the cases. Bead bags and purses,
knitted garments, quaint old bits of adornment and many other articles
are there to make the display complete.
Natural History Galleries
Collections of Birds — the Great Variety Found in America
— Butterflies — Insects — Humming Birds — Snakes, Etc.
It is quite probable that hundreds of the visitors who explore the
galleries of the Memorial Museum fail to discover one of the most
interesting of all the exhibits, the excellent collection of natural
history material which is at present housed in the mezzanine gallery
of the old unit, filling every available inch of space several times
over. A glimpse, through the rotunda of the Greek statuary hall,
of mounted heads and other specimens leads the curious to find
their way up the stairs — to be more than repaid for their investigations
by the collection on display.
Beginning under the guidance of Professor Ferdinand Gruber,
the natural history department has had a somewhat varied career,
sometimes under the administration of experts and occasionally suffer-
ing from neglect so that valuable specimens have been rescued from
total loss only by the vigilance of the later workers. But, in spite
of past neglect, the exhibits are there; it remains only to complete
their arrangement so that they show to advantage.
Henry Trost, recent head of the department, began the work of
renovation and it has been continued by Robert Belmont.
Of four divisions of the natural history material the museum is
especially proud. These are the representative and complete collec-
tion of birds, containing hundreds, probably thousands of specimens;
the collection of eggs, ranging from the humming bird to the eagle
and the ostrich; the cases of shells and sea life and the Hornung col-
lection of skulls and articulated skeletons of birds and small mammals.
The cases that contain the birds fill the greater part of the wall
space, with every available inch of shelf room crowded with specimens
from all countries. They are classified, so far as it has been possible
in the limited space, according to country and type; birds of North
America filling several cases and the general display covering the
smaller birds, gallinaceous types, water fowl, sea birds, birds of prey,
the eagle families, and so on.
The collection of North American birds is particularly complete.
Probably every known variety of bird found on the continent is repre-
sented, in most cases by several specimens. Arranged according to
geographical localities, the student of American bird life may spend
many hours in a comparative study of the specimens.
Hundreds of specimens of tropical birds are shown, the majority
mounted and others represented by skins, awaiting the work of the
taxidermist. Rare birds of the jungles are there, birds from the
distant islands of the sea, the gorgeous flamingo, the egret with its
treasured plumes, a very complete collection of birds from the Philip-
pine islands, the sacred white peacock from India, quite at home in a
case with several of his more ostentatious brothers, and many other
unusual types of bird life.
Among the rarities are several fine examples of the bird of paradise,
some extremely rare and some extinct. These valuable specimens are
arranged in a special case where the beauty of their plumage is shown
to full advantage.
NATURAL HISTORY GALLERIES 177
Another modest-looking little bird that perhaps fails to attract
the attention he deserves Is the passenger pigeon, the bird whose enor-
mous flocks in flight once darkened the skies, offering such easy
prey to unrestrained hunters that the species Is now extinct. One
lone living specimen was treasured in an Eastern aviary for some
time and it was hoped to continue the race, but the pigeon died before
the hoped-for family had been established and passenger pigeons now
exist only in museums.
Those who have visited these galleries at night declare that tiny
spots of light glow from two cases that stand near the entrance stair-
way. The cases are devoted to the humming bird collection and the
mysterious glimmer comes from the radiant feathers at the throats
of the tiny birds, feathers that even in the broad light of day seem to
glow with living fire.
The humming birds, scores of them of every variety, are mounted
on branches in a natural setting, tiny luminous jewels among the green
twigs. The ordinary humming bird, brilliant though he may be, appears
modest and dingy beside some of these amazing little creatures with
throats of flame.
It would be difficult for any one to name a bird, obtainable by col-
lectors, which is not represented in, the museum display. From hum-
ming birds to ostriches, from desert road-runners to the huge albatross
of the seas, from the unassuming barnyard hen to the eagle of the upper
air, from ptarmigans of the Northern woods, wearing their winter coat
of snow-white feathers, to the clumsy-billed toucan and gorgeous ma-
caws of the tropical jungles, the birds have been brought together from
the four corners of the world to their places on the museum shelves.
Supplementing the display of birds is the collection of eggs, an
unusually complete assortment from the tiny egg of the humming-bird
to the ponderous egg of the ostrich. Casts of the eggs of the extinct
kiwi bird, great auk and other lost species, reproducing exactly in size
and coloring the original eggs, add to the interest.
A case of nests of unusual structure, the delicate work of the
weaver-bird, the bottle-necked affair built by a tropical expert, all
types of nests with their proprietors perched near by, is also on display.
The shell collections are another source of pride in this depart-
ment. Case upon case holds rare specimens from all parts of the world,
tiny shells of pearly texture and delicate structure, spiny sea urchins,
huge rock shells, practically every known variety. The coloring of
some of these shells is worthy of study in itself, particularly the case of
tiny pointed shells near the door, colored like the most exquisite mosaics.
The shell collection is supplemented by several cases of fossils and
petrifications, including some unusually good specimens of fossilized
fish, their delicate bony structure imprinted on the ancient rocks in
perfect detail. Mastodon teeth, pieces of bone and other exhibits are in
these cases.
The display of mounted insects is also of interest to the natural
history student. Butterflies by the hundred, beetles of all varieties,
from those scarcely larger than a pinhead to enormous and terrifying
creatures with great jaws; moths, tropical insects, all are here in pro-
fusion. One of the rare collections is that of South American specimens
collected by Elyseu Azevedo of Rio Janeiro and presented by Mr. de
Young.
The life of the sea is represented by a large collection c
corals, crustaceans and other specimens. Particularly noteworthy are
the cases of corals, many rare and beautiful specimens effectively ar-
ranged on a bed of their native sand. One case holds fish of extraor-
178
M. H. DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM
dinary varieties, the quaint little sea horse, the bottle fish, flying fish
and other freaks of the sea. Crabs, lobsters and their relatives are
there in numbers, including some enormous tree-climbing crabs from
the tropics that would be most undesirable creatures to encounter un-
prepared.
The Hornung collection of skulls and skeletons has perhaps no
rival of its type. It was made by Dr. J. C. Hornung, an eminent Eng-
lish naturalist, with whom the collection and preparation of these tiny
specimens was a lifelong hobby. The collection came into the pos-
session of the museum through the fortuitous chance that brought Dr.
Hornung to San Francisco after a tour of exploration in the Orient, in
need of funds to make possible his return to England, and willing to
sell his treasures in his need. Mr. de Young promptly bought the
collection for the amount of which Dr. Hornung stood in need, and
thus the museum came to own a remarkable scientific display.
The three cases which hold the exhibit are filled with hundreds
of tiny skulls and skeletons, perfectly cleaned and prepared. They are
all relics of small birds and the smallest mammals, nothing larger than
a squirrel or a duck. Preparing these tiny specimens was a matter of
careful boiling to soften the flesh, and then the most painstaking work
of stripping and picking the flesh .from the bones, such minute bones
that the accidental slip of a scalpel meant their destruction. All of the
specimens are absolutely perfect, without crack or flaw.
The most remarkable specimen of the lot, perhaps, is the articu-
lated skeleton of a humming bird, complete to the last threadlike bone.
Skeletons of common mice, tinier field mice, rats and other small ani-
mals are also in perfect condition, every bone in place.
A small case is filled with specimens of snakes, including a good
collection of rattlesnake skins and rattles. There also is a mummified
snake of the kind that finds its eventual destiny in the mortar of some
Chinese maker of strange medicines.
The museum collection of mammals consists principally of speci-
mens of the smaller varieties with the larger animals represented by
heads and masks. Two good specimens of gorillas will some day be
the nucleus of a picturesque group, and monkeys of various types that
once delighted the youngsters who visited the zoo at Golden Gate Park
alerady have been set to climbing trees and. swinging from branches, as
they did in life.
The natural history department has been the ultimate destination
of the majority of animals and birds that once inhabited the park cages.
Peacocks that once paraded languidly over the park lawns are now on
display, one particular specimen splendidly mounted to show the richly
colored tail feathers. A buffalo from the park paddock, where the
buffalo herd is a constant attraction to hundreds of visitors, now
stands in a glass case, pursued by wolves and coyotes.
Monarch, known for years as the dean of the bear pit, also is
there. Monarch, a California grizzly, spent nearly all his life in cap-
tivity, as he was taken in early youth in the San Bernardino moun-
tains. That was in 1885, and until May, 1911, he reigned over the cages,
dying at last of old age and weakness.
The Herman Schussler collection from South Africa is of unusual
interest. It includes principally mounted horns of antelope, harte-
beest, wildebeeste and other creatures of the veldt, whose names, at
least, are familiar tr> J.tLg, tn11<Wfrs of *?'<*"'• ^"B^""'1 mi-d. other novel-
ists. The collectionf%lso\has spacimeM .ofrJthinocero/tus^, lion skulls
and other exhibits! » \
J
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