Visiting the Hermitage
Museum in Norfolk (Virginia) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Laurent
and I were able to think about a little history as we dropped Florence off at
school one day and went out on a date.
The
two of us went to visit the Hermitage Museum House in a 1908 Tudor-style home
built by William and Florence Sloane in Norfolk.
Florence’s
nickname was Jack, which was slang for “money” at the time of the First World
War. In the carving inside the doorway,
there is a motto that says, “The house that jack built.” Mr. Sloane made his
fortune selling long johns (loose thermal underwear that fits under pants and
shirts) to the Navy.
My
favorite piece in the Hermitage’s Chinese collection was a Chinese Kuan Yin
statue carved in lindenwood from the Sung Dynasty (960 – 1279). Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, was
originally a male deity that the Chinese transformed into a female deity.
There
were several figurines of horses and camels used to transverse the Silk Road
and attendants in green ceramic and brown clay that were buried with the
deceased.
The
figurines took the place of living people and animals that used to be buried
with their lords. (Human burial with the
pharaohs was also practiced in ancient Egypt.)
The
Hermitage Museum had several Shang Dynasty (1523 – 1027 BC) bronze vessels with
the characteristic symmetrical design on them called a taotie. A statue of a Hindu goddess riding on the
flayed skin of her ex-husband made me feel a little creepy.
Our
tour guide did not like the exhibit with the three-inch shoes for Chinese
ladies. Doing away with binding women’s
feet was one of the achievements of the Chinese Revolution of 1949 as far as I
am concerned.
I
liked the two Chinese cinnabar lacqueur boxes that the Sloanes owned as
well. Each box depicted fifty sons
playing.
Families
in China would give the fifty sons boxes to bridal couples and wish them to
have 100 sons. The lacqueur on these
boxes was so deep that the artist was able to carve into the lacqueur and not
into the wood.
Tobacco
snuff bottles were all the rage in China and among collectors like the
Sloanes. To use the snuff, you would
inhale it through your nose.
The
more refined snuff boxes had little spoons, so you would not have to stick a
bottleneck up your nostrils for the snuff.
One
snuff bottle showed a reclining woman.
Her upturned, removable foot was the bottle opener.
I
was impressed by this museum that reminded me of the Cernushi Museum in Paris
(France) with its gem collection of Chinese artwork.
By
Ruth Pennington Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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