Page 88 - Chiense TExtiles, MET MUSEUM Pub 1934

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
The Museum acquired in the Paul Bequest some two
hundred and sixty-four pairs of sleeve bands and eight-
een skirts, which offer a valuable field for study, not only
of the symbols and folklore, but also of the endless com-
binations of stitches and color designs. And what has
been said about the sleeve bands is true of the various
types of small objects- fan cases, mirror holders, bags,
spectacle cases, pocketbooks, and so on.

THEATRICAL ROBES
The theater, the playhouse where men go to see their
fantasies enacted, where each man attains visions of no-
bility and splendor and the heights which in his heart
'he dreams of attaining- this stage becomes the release
from the bitterness of reality, the gorgeous dream of
life, an Iliad, a Morte d'Arthur, where splendid heroes
strive and sacrifice. The words, the songs flow grandly
and the color and movement are heightened and exag-
gerated, pitched in a harmonious scale beyond reality.
In a land where the court was so gorgeous, the thea-
ter must needs outdo itself in order to separate itself
from the reality, and by exaggerating the contours of
the garments, pitching the color scheme to its fullest
violence, and employing large and vivid design, it suc-
ceeds admirably. In the modern theater-and probably in
the ordinary theater of past years-the materials employed
are cheap but the result is consistent and, on the stage
with its artificial lighting, entirely successful; but lately
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