15. Portrait, on a large roll, of the late Emperor of China, seated, with a bow and arrow in his hands.
Above is an autograph inscription by the Emperor, in verse, in praise of archery. Brought by Col. Rigaud from the 'Summer Palace.'
16. Another glass case, containing:—
i. A series of carved and coloured ivory tablets, representing Chinese life and manners, partly broken; with some grotesque figures, probably of deities, carved in wood.
Believed to have been bequeathed by Rawlinson.
ii. A series of small Chinese paintings on ivory.
From the Douce collection.
iii. Three sets of wooden roundels[389], or trenchers, of which two are round (numbering thirty plates), the other square (numbering twelve); with mottos, in the former case in verse, in the latter consisting of precepts from the Bible. One of the round sets belonged, in 1599, to Queen Elizabeth. The verses are sometimes humorous, sometimes moral, and strongly dehortatory from marriage; not, however, out of any flattering deference to the condition or supposed inclination of the 'Virgin Queen,' but chiefly in accordance with the opposite view taken by some hard-hearted misogynist. Of the two classes of motto, let these stand as specimens:—
'If that a bachelor thou bee
Keepe thou so, still be ruled by mee,
Leaste that repentance all to late
Reward thee with a broken pate.'