religion, and a thing that is “proper” must conform to tradition, for tradition and propriety are synonymous. The question of the throne was left in abeyance for the moment, as Her Majesty said there was one she would like to have painted, which she would have found before I began the big picture.
Prince Ching
I finally began the sketch. Her Majesty was dressed in one of her official winter gowns. Its fur lining rendered the already heavily embroidered satin stiffer than ever, and any stray folds that might perchance have appeared, were pulled out by a heavy fringe of pearls around the hem. She had on her famous pearl mantle over an official jacket. In her coiffure she wore her long tassel of pearls, and many curious ceremonial jewels. She had on fur-lined undersleeves, which hid half her beautiful hands. The effect of her tiny fingertips, with their long curving nails and jeweled shields, the palms not being visible, was most unfortunate. Added to this, she held them tightly together in her lap, and the lines were obscured by a large, pale-blue handkerchief in one hand.
My heart fell. Thus I would lose one of her chief beauties. I begged Lady Yu-Keng to ask her to pose her hands differently. She said she could not do such a thing; so, in my inelegant Chinese, I told Her Majesty I did not like her hands as they were. “But I like them like that,” she said, looking at me with a charming expression of amused astonishment, amazed that it was possible for anyone not to like what she liked; and she kept her hands as they were, and I was obliged to begin the picture with the hands in that position.
The first sketch was quickly made, and Her Majesty expressed herself as pleased with it. Then came the discussion as to the size of the portrait. I made my measurements, and thought five feet by eight was large enough, but when she saw what size it was going to be, she thought six feet by ten