Three doors were visible; one, directly in line at the further end of
the place, apparently of carved ebony inlaid with ivory; another, on the
right, of lemon wood or something allied to it, and inlaid with a design
in some emerald hued material; with a third, corresponding door, on the
left, just barely visible to the spectator.
Two figures appeared. One was that of a Chinaman in a green robe
scarcely distinguishable from the cushions surrounding him, who crouched
upon the divan to the left of the central door, smoking a long bamboo
pipe. His face was the leering face of a yellow satyr. But, dominating
the composition, and so conceived in form, in color, and in lighting, as
to claim the attention centrally, so that the other extravagant details
became but a setting for it, was another figure.
Upon a slender ivory pedestal crouched a golden dragon, and before the
pedestal was placed a huge Chinese vase of the indeterminate pink
seen in the heart of a rose, and so skilfully colored as to suggest
an internal luminousness. The vase was loaded with a mass of exotic
poppies, a riotous splash of color; whilst beside this vase, and
slightly in front of the pedestal, stood the figure presumably intended
to represent the Lady of the Poppies who gave title to the picture.
Pages:
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246