With the Empress Dowager of China

by Katharine A. Carl

The Officials of the Wai-Wu-Pu, as well as many other of the high Officials in Peking, dressed in full dress, accompanied it to the station, and stood to watch the Sacred Picture start off on its long journey to St. Louis. The special train carrying it was met at Tientsin by the Viceroy of the Province, surrounded by all his official staff. It was there placed with great ceremony upon the steamer on which it was to make the journey to Shanghai, and was accompanied from Peking to Shanghai by an official specially appointed for the purpose.

At Shanghai it was received in the same formal state and with the same official pomp as at Tientsin. It was met at the steamer by the Governor of the Province and all his staff and transhipped with great ceremony to one of the Pacific Mail Steamers for San Francisco. The Sacred Picture was accompanied on its journey from Shanghai to St. Louis by a high Official and his suite. A special car conveyed it from San Francisco to St. Louis.

His Imperial Highness Prince Pu L’un, Imperial Commissioner and personal representative of Their Majesties at the Exposition of St. Louis, awaited the arrival of the portrait there, delaying his departure for several days in order to be able himself to assist at the reception and placing of the portrait. At four o’clock on the afternoon of the 19th of June, His Imperial Highness and the Imperial Chinese Commission repaired to the Art Gallery, where the cases containing the portrait and pedestal were awaiting their presence to be opened. The Director of the Art Gallery, the Assistant Director, and several other members of the Board of Fine Arts, were also present.

The cases containing the portrait, one within the other, were opened, and finally within the last, lined with yellow silk, lay the “Sacred Picture,” covered with a screen of brocaded satin of Imperial hue. This satin cover was ceremoniously removed, and the picture was “unveiled.” The Prince proposed the health of Her Majesty and the Prosperity of China, which the assistants drank in sparkling champagne. This opening of the cases and unveiling of the picture lasted from four o’clock to nine P.M. A few days later, when the Gallery where it was placed was opened to the public, it lost, for the first time since its inception, its semi-sacred qualities. Only then did it stand upon its own merits and become as other portraits. Then, for the first time, it could be seen by the ordinary individual—then only it became the subject of comment as any other picture at the Fair. Then it was open to the gaze of the vulgar and the comment of the scoffer.

At the close of the Exposition, a delegate was sent from the Chinese Legation in Washington to arrange for the transportation of the picture to the latter place. The portrait and its carved support were again placed in their satin-lined cases, and it began the journey to Washington. Her Majesty had decided when the portrait was completed to her satisfaction that it would be a suitable present for her to make to the United States. She thought this would be particularly appropriate, as the painting of the portrait for the St. Louis Exposition had been thought of by the wife of the American Minister to Peking, and as it had been executed by an American artist. Thus the United States received the gift of the first portrait ever painted of a Chinese Ruler.

When the portrait arrived in Washington, His Excellency Sir Chentung Liang Cheng, the Chinese Minister to Washington, attended by his Secretaries, made a formal presentation of the portrait to the President, which Mr. Roosevelt received on behalf of the United States Government.

CHAPTER XXXV RETURN TO THE SUMMER PALACE

Sending off the picture to St. Louis did not sever my connection with the Palace, for I had still other work to finish! At the end of April, a month later than usual, the Court moved out to the Summer Palace for the rest of the year. The country was beautiful, the trees were almost in full leaf, and lilacs, blue and white, bloomed everywhere. My garden in the Park of the Palace of the Emperor’s Father was full of them, and over my entrance gate clambered a beautiful yellow rose-bush laden with masses of blooms. Wild flowers were springing up at every turn, and my dog “Me-lah” in his wild races through the park, when we were out for our walks, would often start up coveys of birds; or rabbits would scurry away at his approach. I went back to my favorite haunts in the park, to the summer-house, where upon the threshold, cut in stone, lay the plaint of the Seventh Prince! It was a delightful change to be in this beautiful spot after the four months in Peking, and to see Nature everywhere budding into perfection. The grounds of the Summer Palace were one maze of delight. The peonies in all their royal splendor, the fragrant lilac, the stately magnolia, and the budding elms, each added their charm to this beautiful spot, where everything was lovely. I could not wonder at the Empress Dowager’s desire to come back again to all this beauty.

A charming studio was fitted up for me at the Summer Palace on our return. Her Majesty saw how much more satisfactory it was for me to have a proper place to work in, where I would be undisturbed, and even had she not seen the utility of a studio, I think she would have granted my request for one, for she was always kind and considerate. Upper windows of plate-glass were put into the north side of one of His Majesty’s Throne-rooms, behind the Imperial loge. It looked over a charming terrace of the garden. The days were long, and it was a delight to live and breathe, and the quiet of the studio, where I could work at leisure, made me resume my work with renewed vigor.

I began at once to finish up the small sketch of the St. Louis portrait, which Her Majesty wished to keep, and then to put the final touches on the two portraits begun at the Summer Palace. The Throne-room that was now my studio had only one disadvantage. It was so near the Theater that on theater days I could hear the music and the voices of the actors. And on those days, the court outside my windows was filled all day with eunuchs and Their Majesties’ attendants, moving to and fro. I decided if it was necessary for me to go into Peking at any time, to take a “Theater day” to do so.