'This is the intervening apartment between the Saloon and the Music Room, and is the one that usually becomes the sitting room of the Royal party when residing at the Palace. Its length is fifty six feet, and its extreme breadth, to the windows, about thirty three feet. The ceiling is partly supported by two oriental columns, of white and gold, enwreathed by serpents, and branching into umbrella capitals hung with bells. The Cornice, or Canopy, which surrounds the room, is also diversified by pendent bells. The draperies, etc., are of striped satin; and the walls are panelled in white, with richly gilt borderings. The principal chairs and sofas are covered to match the drapery; and, on the back of every chair, is a small Chinese figure, seated, with a bell in each hand. There are five windows on the east side (besides two others in the semicircular returns), and, in front of each intermediate pier, is a sexagon stand of porcelain, sustaining branch lights. The chimney piece, which is of brown coloured marble, is elegantly designed; at the angles are small columns, and within a niche in each jamb is a Chinese figure. On the mantel shelf is a handsome dial, by Vulliamy, with ornamental accessories, including Chinese figures of white china, in draperies enriched with gold. Among the furniture are Buhl tables, with grotesque borderings, beautifully inlaid. On the side and end tables are many jars and vases of Asiatic and Sèvres porcelain; several of which are of a pale sea green colour, elegantly wrought with flowers, butterflies, and other forms. The doors are panelled with plate glass.
'The Saloon, which forms the centre of the suite in the eastern front, is magnificently decorated, almost every part being effulgent with gold. Its general plan is a circle, thirty five feet in diameter, surmounted by a cupola, and enlarged to the north and south by coved semicircular recesses (of a ten feet radius), which include the entrances from the apartments communicating with the Music and Banqueting rooms. The Cupola springs from a boldly projecting cornice, composed of various mouldings, apparently, of massive gold, crowned by a running ornament of flowers, and pendent bells. The ceiling represents a lightly clouded sky (the sun being dimly seen); in the centre of which is a gorgeous bird, in full relief, with wings of flowered gold and silver, enwreathed with serpents, resplendently coloured crimson and green. This sustains one of the most elaborate and finely devised lustres, of cut glass, that was ever executed. Its height is about eighteen feet, and its varying and brilliant tiers of glittering drops are surrounded, towards the bottom, by radiant burners, the light of which is softened and diffused around by globes of ground glass. Four smaller lustres, but of corresponding fancy and workmanship, are pendent from the ceilings of the recesses.
'On the eastern side are three large windows, splendidly adorned with festooned curtains of flowered satin, crimson and gold; and the panels, and other divisions, are enriched with corresponding drapery. Between the windows are two very large pier glasses, reaching nearly from the ground to the cornice; and other large glasses surmount the entrance doorways; all the framework is of an elegantly conceived pattern, designed from the lotus leaf; and every frame has a rich canopy, springing from dragons' heads. On the west side is a sumptuous chimney piece of statuary marble, with enrichments of ormolu; and, in each jamb, within a niche, stands a Chinese figure; these figures, which are of metal, are highly painted and varnished, and the dresses are finely pencilled. Over the chimney piece is a vast looking glass, thirteen feet high, and eight feet wide, in front of which stands an elegant dial by Vulliamy; this is supported by couchant dragons of blue porcelain, and enclosed in a China case surrounded by golden wreaths of the lotus and sunflower plants. Surmounting the dial, is a Chinese male figure seated, with a boy on his shoulder, a girl at his side, and a dog on his lap.
'At the sides of the recesses are enriched pilasters; each shaft of which exhibits a kind of caduceus, enwreathed by double headed serpents, in gold. The doors, which are folding, and also double, are beautifully ornamented in Japan work, in panels, curiously embossed with flowering shrubs, birds of different kinds (including peacocks, parrots, and cockatoos), rabbits, a porcupine frightened by snakes, insects, etc., in variously coloured gold. On the side piers, between the doors, are represented pagodas in rockery scenery, together with a lake teeming with water flowers of many species, and, in the sky, flying dragons. Great invention and very skilful execution are displayed by all these designs.
'Large vases of china, and other vessels in rich settings, beautifully wrought with sundry kinds of insects, in low relief, constitute a part of the ornamental furniture of the Saloon; which, also, includes some fine cabinets, and splendid ottomans of ruby coloured silk, fringed with gold, with couches and chairs of corresponding elegance. The carpet, which is of Axminster manufacture, is wrought on a circular plan, to fit the room, accords with the other decorations. In the centre is a dragon and two serpents, surrounded by lotus flowers and leaves; roses, stars, serpents, and other forms, in alternating succession, diversify the borderings.
'The Green Drawing Room, or Banqueting Room Gallery, which connects the Banqueting Room with the Saloon, was originally called the Blue Drawing Room, from the general tone of its decorations. Chinese lanterns were suspended from the cornice and ceiling, and paintings of Chinese scenery and trellis work covered the walls; but it was, subsequently, altered, and scarcely a vestige of its former state remains except the stoves and chimney pieces. It is now called the Green Drawing Room, from the prevalent hue of its draperies, which are of richly woven silks, of a pale green colour, tastefully wrought with groups of fruit and flowers.
'This apartment is fifty two feet in length, and about thirty three feet in extreme breadth. The ceiling, which is surrounded by an enriched cornice, is partly sustained by two oriental columns, crowned with spreading foliage. The walls are panelled white, with broad fret like borders, in gold; and, on the west side, under a festooned canopy, is a recess for a couch, with fluted drapery at the back, radiating from a central flower. On the same side, surmounted by large looking glasses, are two handsome chimney pieces of white marble, having ornamental accessories in ormolu and bronze. A clock by Vulliamy, and two beautiful jars of porcelain, upholding branch lights, stand on each shelf; and many other rich vessels of china and porcelain are ranged on Indian cabinets and side tables, in different parts of the room. But the most récherché of all, are two vases, and two ewers of Chinese manufacture, which occupy high pedestals in front of the window piers; they approach to the Egyptian form, and are of a sea green colour, variegated with gold; each of these vessels is about three feet in height. Several of the tables are of rosewood inlaid with ormolu; and one table is of rich tortoise shell, similarly embellished. The door panels are of looking glass.'
