DOI issue:
Siren, Osvald: The chinese Pavilion of C.T. Loo & Co and its fresco paintings
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57095#0244
DAS ÄUSSERE PORTAL DES CHINESISCHEN
PAVILLONS LOO, PARIS
well calculated lighting the effect is quite suggestive
and permits indeed of an easier enjoyment of the
beautiful sculptures here exhibited than is possible
in any temple in China.
We have no opportunity here to dwell upon the
single pieces of sculpture which are on
view at present, not only in the basement
room, but also on the top storey and in
the vestibule of the building. The Col-
lection of sculptures is indeed so rieh
and important that it well deserves a
special article. But if one wants to see all
the sculptures together, one is forced to
ascend straight from the basement to
the top storey, which is divided into a
sculpture hall and two important side-
rooms, of which the one is completely
panelled with beautifully carved wooden
wainscoting, originating from a South
Indian temple of the 17th Century. This
makes a most suitable background for
somefine pieces of South Indian sculpture
and a few specimens from Java (10th Cent-
ury). The other side-room is decorated
in Siamese style of a more modern type,
though also containing some ancient wooden niches.
It serves for exhibiting Khmer and Siamese heads.
Descending from the top towards the ground floor
one may stop at the third storey to see some
fine pieces of Chinese furniture and screens, and
particularly at the first storey where three rooms
are completely panelled with Chinese screens in
lacquer and Coromandel. These are arranged as a
kind of wall coating or continuous cupboards in
which ceramic treasures are stored. The unified
black, or, in the other room, brownish-red tone
with figures and flowers in mother-of pearl and
lacquer-paint give indeed to these interiors an effect
of quiet and sumptuous refinement. It is only when
the doors are opened and the light turned on the
beautiful porcelains hidden behind them that one
becomes conscious of being in an antiquity shop.
By far the most remarkable room is however the
large entrance hall, which is guarded by two
monumental stone sculptures, the one representing
a Chinese chimaera of the 5th Century A. D. . the
other a lion, probably of the 2nd Century A. D.,
both of supreme beauty. (111. page 546.)
In the middle of the room Stands a huge Buddhist
stela, which though broken at the top reaches
almost to the ceiling, and unfortunately it is so
large and important in itself that it prevents, to
some extent, the full enjoyment of the fresco
paintings which have been set into the walls.
These paintings thus fixed here in a männer that
seems to make their removal difficult must remain
DIE EINGANGSHALLE DES CHINESISCHEN PAVILLONS
LOO, PARIS
546
PAVILLONS LOO, PARIS
well calculated lighting the effect is quite suggestive
and permits indeed of an easier enjoyment of the
beautiful sculptures here exhibited than is possible
in any temple in China.
We have no opportunity here to dwell upon the
single pieces of sculpture which are on
view at present, not only in the basement
room, but also on the top storey and in
the vestibule of the building. The Col-
lection of sculptures is indeed so rieh
and important that it well deserves a
special article. But if one wants to see all
the sculptures together, one is forced to
ascend straight from the basement to
the top storey, which is divided into a
sculpture hall and two important side-
rooms, of which the one is completely
panelled with beautifully carved wooden
wainscoting, originating from a South
Indian temple of the 17th Century. This
makes a most suitable background for
somefine pieces of South Indian sculpture
and a few specimens from Java (10th Cent-
ury). The other side-room is decorated
in Siamese style of a more modern type,
though also containing some ancient wooden niches.
It serves for exhibiting Khmer and Siamese heads.
Descending from the top towards the ground floor
one may stop at the third storey to see some
fine pieces of Chinese furniture and screens, and
particularly at the first storey where three rooms
are completely panelled with Chinese screens in
lacquer and Coromandel. These are arranged as a
kind of wall coating or continuous cupboards in
which ceramic treasures are stored. The unified
black, or, in the other room, brownish-red tone
with figures and flowers in mother-of pearl and
lacquer-paint give indeed to these interiors an effect
of quiet and sumptuous refinement. It is only when
the doors are opened and the light turned on the
beautiful porcelains hidden behind them that one
becomes conscious of being in an antiquity shop.
By far the most remarkable room is however the
large entrance hall, which is guarded by two
monumental stone sculptures, the one representing
a Chinese chimaera of the 5th Century A. D. . the
other a lion, probably of the 2nd Century A. D.,
both of supreme beauty. (111. page 546.)
In the middle of the room Stands a huge Buddhist
stela, which though broken at the top reaches
almost to the ceiling, and unfortunately it is so
large and important in itself that it prevents, to
some extent, the full enjoyment of the fresco
paintings which have been set into the walls.
These paintings thus fixed here in a männer that
seems to make their removal difficult must remain
DIE EINGANGSHALLE DES CHINESISCHEN PAVILLONS
LOO, PARIS
546