RAS MAKOUNNEN. 1903.
CHINESE AMBASSADOR. CHANG TA JEN. 1903.
The deposed monarch who looked quite jolly and robust shook me by the hand as though I might be some one in authority. My visit afterwards bore fruit in Vanity Fair, for I represented him as I saw him, nearly bursting through his light grey tweed suit with a kingly headgear of black velvet enriched with gold braid and a golden tassel attached.
On leaving this country I was told that his chief ambition was to take back with him some good specimens of our best sporting dogs. Well-bred fox terriers were procured, therefore, but when shown to him he feared they would not be strong enough, for it was for hunting he required them, "for hunting the man," so I believe bloodhounds filled their place.
In the case of the Shah of Persia it was different, for when eventually I gained an audience at Marlborough House he received me with courtesy, and I was somewhat embarrassed on seeing him desert (at all events pro tem.), several gentlemen, great authorities on the latest improvement in guns which were being shown him at his especial request. I was directed to the window and His Majesty evidently anxious to assist me, ordered the curtains to be drawn further apart that I might see him in a good light, he then came so close that I could focus only his nose which certainly was the feature in his face.
After making my obeisance I withdrew in favour of those I previously stood in the way of; and from the slight sketch I made and, relying on my memory for the rest, I eventually made my picture.
Having already studied the Viscount Tadasa Hayashi, a distinguished Japanese Minister at the court of St. James', and wishing to depict him in evening dress I persuaded him to come to my studio and to bring with him his star and ribbon. With the characteristic courtesy of the best of his race he appeared most good-naturedly in the early morning, dressed as though he were going to an evening reception, and thoroughly entered into the spirit of his portrait and my work.
Among the large number of Ministers and Ambassadors I have depicted, I may mention the names of Counts Munster, Paul Metternich, Mensdorff, Messrs. Choate, Bayard, Hay and Whitelaw Reid, and last but not least Count Benckendorff.
The latter (whom I have frequently had the pleasure of meeting at the Beefsteak Club) amused me greatly when he came to my studio by saying, "It is a simple task you have before you, you have only to draw an egg—a nose—and an eyeglass and it is done."