THE FESTIVAL OF THE HARVEST MOON--WORK ON
THE PORTRAIT
We think the Chinese so unemotional, so little given to pleasure or
amusement; but there are more popular festivals in China, indulged in
by all classes of people, than in any country in the world, except
perhaps Japan. The people, from the highest to the lowest, enter into
these celebrations with whole-souled earnestness and real enjoyment,
and all the popular festivals, as well as the religious ceremonies, are
celebrated in the Palace with apparently the same zest as among the
people.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, popularly known as the Festival of the Harvest
Moon, which is at its full at the time of the celebration, was, of
course, observed with due ceremony at the Palace. For these festivals
there are always representations at the Palace Theater, and one of the
plays on such days is the dramatization of the Legend of the Festival.
The legend of the Harvest Moon is this: One day an Emperor received the
visit of a fairy. When she left she gave the Emperor an herb, saying,
should he eat it, he would be endowed with Immortality. The Emperor
was called out, soon after the fairy’s visit, and forgot the gift
for a time, and the herb lay upon his table. During his absence from
the Throne-room, a young handmaiden entered and, seeing the root on
the table, with childish curiosity, tasted it, and, finding it good,
ate the whole of it. When the Emperor again thought of his precious
gift from the fairy, he hastened back to the Throne-room, to remove it
from the table where he had left it. What was his horror to find it
gone! Learning that the little handmaid was the only person who had
been in the Throne-room, he called her up to find out what she had
done with it. When he found she had eaten it, he ordered her killed,
that he might thus again obtain the herb. Before the eunuchs could
accomplish their task, the charm began to work, and she felt the wings
of Immortality; and borne up by them, she flew to the skies and took
refuge in the Moon, where she still lives with the pet white rabbit she
had in her arms at the time she flew away from the earth. She is now
an Immortal, and in the Moon she compounds the Elixir of Immortality.
The rabbit, also, shares her immortality, and ever watches at the lunar
threshold.
The drama, with this little maiden as heroine, was played by Her
Majesty’s actors on the day of the Moon Festival, and the finale of
the plays that day was one of the most beautiful spectacular tableaux
I have ever seen. The Chinese obtain most artistic effects in their
illuminations, and by the most simple means. The stage represented a
lake covered with luminous lotus, with the full moon floating above.
Throned on a gigantic lotus flower in the center of the lake sat an
immense, golden Buddha, impassible and serene, ingeniously illuminated
lotus flowers and luminous birds, emblems of Immortality, hovered over
the lake, and the whole tableau was supposed to represent Nirvana, when
the soul is absorbed into Nature and forms a part of it. It was really
fairy-like.
The Ladies dined in Her Majesty’s loge, and this beautiful, illuminated
tableau was scarcely finished before we were obliged to hurry away to
join Their Majesties, who had already started for the gardens where
the ceremony was to take place. The procession, with the Emperor and
Empress Dowager and Ladies in full dress, as usual for a ceremony, was
accompanied by hundreds of lantern-bearing eunuchs. It wound, in and
out, through the verandahed corridors and the paths of the garden like
some great glow-worm, until it came to the marble terrace beneath the
Temple of the Ten Thousand Buddhas, on the great terrace over the lake.
Here, in an open space bathed in the rays of the softly glowing moon,
with the glory of the setting sun still in the west, in front of the
great Stone Pai-lou stood a beautifully illuminated floral pai-lou
and an altar decorated with the usual pyramids of fruits, floral
offerings, and flagons of wine. The pai-lou to the Moon was entirely
of chrysanthemums, with an inscription “To the Glory of the Chaste and
Pure Celestial Orb” in white blooms, like gleaming stars, across the
top.
Their Majesties first made the bows and prostrations to the Moon,
and placed floral offerings on the altar. Then the young Empress and
Ladies did likewise, while the eunuchs recited a poem in melodious
and rhythmic cadence. The Chinese “recitative” is very musical, much
more so, to the foreign ear, than their music. This poem to the Moon
was recited by two voices in alternating rhythm with wonderful effect.
When the recitation was finished, an “auto da fe” was made of the
offerings, to which were added sticks of sweet incense and paper cut
in curious designs. Over all was poured some of the inflammable wine
from the flagons on the altar, and the flames leaped high above the
huge incense-burner that stood on a great bronze tripod in the center
of the moonlit terrace. It was a wonderfully picturesque sight--the
brilliant circle of splendidly gowned Ladies, with the Emperor and
Empress Dowager in their midst, around the flaming censer, whose
leaping flames glinted and glowed upon the jewels and gold embroidery
of their costumes. The lantern-bearing eunuchs formed a faintly glowing
circle around this shining center; and over the whole fantastic picture
the brilliant Harvest Moon shone with unwonted splendor, as if to
show itself worthy of the obeisances it had just received from this
brilliant group.
When the flames no longer leaped from the censer, when only the white
smoke of the incense curled through the interstices of its cover, Their
Majesties turned away, and the lantern-lit procession followed them
to the banks of the lake, where the whole Palace fleet, brilliantly
illuminated, lay moored beneath the marble terrace. The eunuchs,
holding aloft their gleaming lanterns, stood along the terrace and
knelt on the steps leading into the water, while Their Majesties
descended them. On two of the boats, at either side of the Imperial
barge, the eunuchs held their lanterns to form the characters “Peace”
and “Prosperity.” The waters of the lake were now glowing with the
reflections of the myriad lanterns and dancing under their many-colored
lights. A faint glow still illumined the western sky, while the
reflection of the resplendent Moon gleamed like liquid diamonds across
the lake! When we reached the Imperial landing-place, its great
arc-lights on the two tall, painted poles sent their reflections
shimmering, in long, wavy lines, far out into the lake, and almost
rivaled in their splendor that of the celestial orb itself.
Although I took part in all these Palace festivals, my work on the
portrait was advancing, but I longed for more opportunity to quietly
study it and for a little more freedom in working. I felt I needed
more time also for my painting. I ardently desired to be able to work
some when Her Majesty did not pose, and I finally decided to ask her
to allow me to remain at my painting when she and the Ladies went for
their morning walks after a short sitting. It was a deprivation for
me to give up even one of these delightful walks, when I saw such a
charming side of the Empress Dowager’s character, but I felt it must be
done. She reluctantly consented to excuse me on a few occasions, but
she seemed to feel it was not hospitable on her part to leave me alone;
and when she did so she would remain out a shorter time than usual. She
seemed so concerned at my working while the others enjoyed themselves,
that I soon ceased to ask to be left at work; I could only try to make
the best of the time I had at my disposal.
My desire to have more time for my painting and more opportunity
for studying the work was not the only cloud in the heaven of these
delightful days. As the portrait progressed I found myself constantly
running up against Chinese conventionalities as to the way it was done.
They wished so much detail and no shadow. Had Her Majesty been alone to
be considered, she was artistic and progressive enough to have, in the
end, allowed me more liberty; but she, also, was obliged to conform to
tradition, and no fantasy could be indulged in painting the portrait of
a Celestial Majesty. It was necessary to conform to rigid conventions.
I had such a fine opportunity to do something really picturesque in
painting this great Empress and most interesting woman, and I found I
was to be bound down by the iron fetters of Chinese tradition! I could
neither choose an accessory, nor even arrange a fold according to the
lines of the composition. I was obliged to follow, in every detail,
centuries-old conventions. There could be no shadows and very little
perspective, and everything must be painted in such full light as to
lose all relief and picturesque effect. When I saw I must represent Her
Majesty in such a conventional way as to make her unusually attractive
personality banal, I was no longer filled with the ardent enthusiasm
for my work with which I had begun it, and I had many a heartache and
much inward rebellion before I settled down to the inevitable.
The Empress Dowager, however, knew nothing of my discouragement, and
seemed perfectly contented with the progress of the portrait then on
hand--so pleased, in fact, she asked me if I would not like Mrs.
Conger to come and see it. I, of course, replied that I would, and an
invitation was accordingly sent, through the Foreign Office, inviting
Mrs. Conger to come to see the portrait.
As Her Majesty was to receive her in the Throne-room where I painted,
it was decided I could not work on that day. I fully expected the
portrait would be exhibited in the Throne-room, the only place where it
had a proper light; but, to my disappointment, Mrs. Conger was asked to
look at it in the small room where it was kept when I was not working
on it. When we went in, the Chief Eunuch ceremoniously removed the
yellow covering over the “Sacred Picture,” which hung flat against the
wall in a very bad light, with annoying reflections. The small room was
also uncomfortably crowded with Her Majesty and suite, so that it was
impossible to see the whole canvas at once. Mrs. Conger was, however,
so pleased with the likeness and lifelike expression in the eyes,
the upper part of the picture being in a fairly good light, that the
comment stopped here.
This first portrait represented the Empress Dowager sitting on one of
her favorite Cantonese carved Thrones. The figure was life-size. In one
hand she held a flower, and the other lay over a yellow cushion. The
tip of one small embroidered shoe, with its jeweled, white kid sole
resting on a dragon footstool, showed under the hem of her gown. The
head was a three-quarters view, with the eyes looking at the observer.
A jardinière, with her favorite orchid, stood behind the Throne at the
right. It was painted in full light. The canvas was four by six feet
in size; and there was thus no place for any of the emblems or insignia
of Her Majesty’s rank, save that she was clothed in her official
costume of Imperial yellow.
This was the conventional reality, and I had dreamed of painting Her
Majesty in one of her Buddha-like poses, sitting erect upon an antique
Throne of the Dynasty, with one beautifully rounded arm and exquisitely
shaped hand resting on its high side, contrasting in their grace with
its severe lines. I should have exaggerated her small stature by
placing her upon the largest of these Dynastic Thrones. Her wonderfully
magnetic personality alone should have dominated. At the left of the
Throne, I should have placed one of those huge Palace braziers, its
blue flames leaping into the air, their glow glinting here and there
upon her jewels and the rich folds of her drapery; the whole enveloped
in the soft azure smoke of incense, rising from splendid antique
bronze censers. Across the base of the picture, under her feet, should
have writhed and sprawled the rampant double dragon. The Eternal
Feminine, with its eternal enigma shining from her inscrutable eyes,
should have pierced, with almost cruel penetration, the mystery of her
surroundings. Her face should have shone out of this dim interior, as
her personality does above her real environment. I should have tried to
show all the force and strength of her nature in that characteristic
face, exaggerating every feature of it, rather than toning down one
line.
With all these possibilities that the Empress Dowager’s person and
surroundings would suggest to the most unimaginative of artists,
and with the conventional traditions, which I was obliged to follow,
no wonder I became discouraged. But I had always the solace of her
personality--the fascinating study of herself to delight and console
me. New phases of her character and personality were constantly
opening out before me. She dominates everything and everybody in the
Palace, and is far and away, the most interesting personality there,
not because she is the first figure at the Court, but because she is
really the most interesting one, and she would be that in any position.
No wonder that when she smiles the Court is gay--her smile is so
entrancing. No wonder that when she frowns the Court trembles, for she
excites sympathy in all her moods.