Princess

After readjusting ourselves in the waiting room we were met when we came out by the chief eunuch of the palace who conducted us to the red covered palace chairs each carried by six men.

They bore us past the Imperial Gateway used only for Their Majesties through a door of entrance at the left When we were within the sacred precincts of one of the residences of the sons of heaven And within the walls of the favoured palace Of the Empress Dowager Before we could take in our surroundings We had been rapidly carried Through various courts and gardens And had come at last To a larger quadrangular court Filled with pots of rare blooming plants And many beautiful growing shrubs Here the bearers put down our chairs We descended and walked through the court Preceded and followed By a number of eunuchs The great plate glass doors of the palace In front of us Blazing with a huge red character Shou Longevity Were swung noiselessly back And we were at last Within the throne room of her Imperial Majesty The Empress Dowager of China A group of princesses And ladies in waiting stood to receive us The Ladies Yu King Wife and daughter of a former Chinese Minister of Finance Stood near to the Princesses And their perfect knowledge of both Chinese and English Rendered them delightful Mediums of communication Between the Princesses and ourselves Having known these ladies in Paris It was almost like seeing old friends They seemed a link between the real everyday world And this Arabian Nights palace Into which we had been wafted As we arrived at a quarter past ten We were in the throne room A few moments before Their Majesties appeared Their entrance was so simply made So unobtrusive That the first I knew of it Noticing a sudden lull I looked around And saw a charming little lady With a brilliant smile Greeting Mrs Conjer Very cordially One of the ladies You can whispered Her majesty But even after this It seemed almost impossible For me to realize That this kindly looking lady So remarkably young Looking With so winning a smile Could be The so called cruel implacable tyrant The redoubtable Old empress dowager Whose name Had been on the lips Of the world Since 1900 A young man Almost boyish In appearance Entered the throne Room with her This Was the son Of Heaven The emperor Of china After greeting mrs conger the empress dowager Looked toward Me And i advanced With irreverence She Met me halfway And extended her hand With another Brilliant Smile Which quite won me And i Spontaneously Raised her dainty Fingers to my Lips This was not In the protocol Program It was An involuntary And surprised Tribute On my part To her Unexpected Charm She then turned And with Graceful Gesture Extended her Hand Toward the Emperor And murmured "the Emperor" And watched Me closely While i Made his Majesty The formal Reverence He acknowledged The salutation By a slight Bow And a stereotyped Smile But i felt That he too Was Closely Scrutinizing me As His shrewd Glance Swept My person After a Few Moments Conversation Interpreted By the Ladies yukeng Her Majesty Ordered my Painting Things Brought in While she Retired to Be dressed In the gown She had decided Upon as Appropriate for the Portrait After she Had Left the Throne Room I tried to Take in the Conditions of the Place For painting The hall Was large And spacious but The light was False The upper Parts of the Windows being Covered with Paper shades The only place In the Hall Where There was any Sort of Light for Painting Was in Front of the great Plate Glass Doors And this was But a small Space in which To begin so Large a Picture To get a light Upon the portrait As well upon The sitter i Should be forced To place my Canvas very Near the throne Where she was To Sit and with So large a Portrait as i Was to paint This would be A great Disadvantage When i thought I must Paint here And Begin At once Upon the canvas Which was to be The final Picture my Heart fell Her majesty wished Above All to have A large Portrait and i Was told she Would not Understand my Beginning on a Small canvas Or making Any preliminary Studies that if I did not Begin on the Large canvas At Once she Would probably Not give me Any More sittings In fact we had That morning Been Told at the Foreign office That her Majesty Was to Give me But two Sittings so There was no Alternative There could be no preliminary poses, no choice from several sketches and only a few moments in which to choose the pose.

Which must be final And I totally ignorant of the possibilities of my sitter or her characteristics Luckily I had but a few moments to consider all these adverse circumstances For Her Majesty soon returned She had been clothed in a gown of imperial yellow Brocaded in the wisteria vine In realistic colors and richly embroidered in pearls It was made in the graceful Manchu fashion In one piece reaching from the neck to the floor Fastened from the right shoulder To the hem with jade buttons The stuff of the gown Was of a stiff transparent silk And was worn over A softer undergown Of the same color and length At the top button From the right shoulder Hung a string of eighteen enormous pearls Separated by flat pieces Of brilliant Transparent green jade From the same button Was suspended a large Carved pale ruby Which had yellow silk tassels Terminating into immense Pear-shaped pearls Of rare beauty At each side just under the arms hung a Pale blue embroidered Silk handkerchief And a scent bag With long black silk tassels Around her throat Was a pale blue Two inch wide cravat Embroidered in gold With large pearls This cravat Had one end tucked Into the opening On the shoulder of her gown And the other hanging Her jet Black hair was parted In the middle carried Smoothly Over the temples And brought to the Top of the head In a large Flat coil Formerly All Manchu ladies Who have marvelous Hair Carried the hair itself Out from this coil Over a golden Jade Or tortoiseshell Sword like pin Into a large Winged bow The Empress Dowager And the ladies of the court Have substituted satin Instead of the hair For this winglike construction As being more practicable And less liable To get out of order So Satin Like and glossy Is their hair That it is difficult To tell where it ends And the satin begins A band of Pearls with an Immense flaming pearl In the center Encircled the coil On either Side of the winged Bow were bunches Of natural flowers And a profusion Of jewels From the Right side of the headdress Hung a tassel Of eight strings Of beautiful pearls Reaching to the Shoulder she wore Bracelets and rings And on Each hand had two nail Protectors for she Wore her nails so Long the protectors Were necessary adjuncts These Nail protectors were worn On the third and fourth Fingers of Either Hand those on the left Being of Green jade While those on the right hand Were of Gold set with Rubies and pearls Her majesty Advanced with animation And asked me Where the double Dragon throne was to Be placed After the eunuchs Had put it Where i said She took her seat Although not More than five Feet tall She wears the manchus Shoes with six Inch high stiltLike soles To avoid throwing The knees up higher Than the lap She Must sit upon Cushions and when She is seated she looks A much larger Woman than When standing She Took a conventional Pose and told Me i might make Any suggestion I wished But I had to Make up My mind that the pose And surroundings Must be as Typical and characteristic As possible And as I had No time to study My august Sitter I thought she Would know best As to her Position and accessories It was nearing Eleven Beginning anything Is momentous Every artist Knows how the Wonderful Possibilities of the bare Canvas in its Virgin purity Standing before Him inspires him With almost a Feeling of awe How He hesitates about beginning So great is the Responsibility this Bare canvas may Become a masterpiece The full expression Of his Thought or it May come forth A maimed and Distorted effort Today in these Strange Surroundings With these Unusual and Unfavorable conditions My hesitancy was Greater than usual For Upon this beginning Depended my being Able to go on With the portrait My hands trembled The inscrutable Eyes of the wonderful woman I was to paint Fixed piercingly Upon me were Also disconcerting But Just then the Eighty Five clocks in This particular Throne room Began to chime Play airs and Strike the hour In eightyfive Different ways The Auspicious moment Had Come i Raised my charcoal And Put the first Stroke upon the Canvas of the First Portrait that had Ever Been painted Of the empress dowager Of Great china The powerful Su shi The princesses Ladiesin waiting The High Eunuchs and Attendants Stood in breathless Silence around Intently watching My every movement For Everything touching Her majesty is A solemnity For a Few Moments I heard the Faintest ticking Of the eightyFive Clocks as if They were great Cathedral bells clanging In my ears and My Charcoal on the Canvas sounded like Some mighty saw Drawn back and Forth Then happily I became Interested and Absolutely unconscious Of Anything but my Sitter and my Work I worked Steadily on for What seemed to be A very short Time when her Majesty turned to The interpreter and Said enough work Had been done For that day The Condition had been Fulfilled and the Picture begun at The auspicious Moment She added that She knew I must Be tired from Our long drive Out from Peking As well as from My work she Said I must rest And we must Partake of some Refreshments She then Descended служит из них descended from the throne и came over to look at the sketch.

I had blocked in the whole figure and had drawn the head with some accuracy.

After looking critically at it for a few moments, she expressed herself as well pleased with what had been done and paid me some compliments on my talent as an artist.

I felt instinctively however, this was due more to her natural courtesy; her desire to put me at ease than to an actual expression of her opinion.

After she had looked at the portrait, she called Mrs Conger and the Princesses to see what had been done, and it was discussed for a few moments.

Then she turned to me and said the portrait interested her greatly—that she should like to see it go on.

Um, um, oh, that was it.

The Pirates and the Princesses parade dance.

And the princesses.

You know, they kind of put it on the internet so everyone could flash mob it.

And people did, didn't they? So we could do the Pirates-

Ah

... and Princesses parade dance.

I quite like that.