LI HUNG CHANG'S FURS.

Evening Post, Volume LV, Issue 137, 11 June 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

LI HUNG CHANG'S FURS.

Li Hung Chang is believed to be tho richest man iv tho world. This belief cuitaiuly gains credit from a glimpse at one portion of his invested capital which lihs recently made its appearance in the City of London. Among other sources of income, the groat Chinese satrap draws ah animal tribute of precious fura from one of the northern provinces. This is said to be. the mountain and forest district of Northwest Manchuria, whoae ' natural commodities ' of fur- bearing animals are mentioned by the Emperor Kien Lung- in the pious work in which tho Imperial author describes the country still held sacred as the dwellingplace of the spirits of his ancestors. Part of the tribute ot the Russian Tartar tribes is also collected in tho form of sables, and it is known that while the poor Tartars sond in the finest slfins in true loyalty to the Tsar, dishonest officials substitute inferior furs, and the choice skins in the Imperial wardrobe come not from tribute but from pui chase. They manage these things better m China. Li Hung Chang has immense warehouses iv Pekin crammed with prooidus furs from top to bottom, and no middleman pilfers the choice skins on their way to tbia repository. It has been done, but Li Hung Chang is a watchful ruler, and it was rumoured that the punishment inflioted was so appropriate ana diverting that no one has ever meddled with Li's tribute sables since. There in an immense demand for rare furs in China. A nation in which neither men nor women wear jewels, but whioh has au exquisite taste for personal luxuries, fluds a substitute for jewels in costume. An Indian or Afghan prince will perhaps dress in white cotton, provided this be set off by some priceless gems on his sword, dagger, and turban. A Chinese mandarin's j sole jewels may be a few bits of jade or curneliau, but he makes up for this in summer by the richness of his silks, aud iv winter by wearing robes of furs so spleudid that it needs a certain education to appreciate tho full beauty of the costume. It has long been known that the Chinese furriers wero the best in the world ; and that, exoept in the dyeing of sealskins, their treatment of the fur itsolf, especially iv improving its tiut and luatre, was unrivalled. It was not, however, suspected that they could improve on the work of nature. An inspection of some of Li's furs recently sent to London showed that this wjih a tusk not beyond the art of tho ancient civilisation of the Far East. There were three or four robes which raised a certain exoitement of admiration, oven among the purely commercial experts of the wholeßßle fur trade. One of these robes was constructed with a special object. Tbe aim of the Chinese furrier had been to innktt a akin of sable magnified to the size of tho akin of a bear. In addition to coating a gigantic sable, thin genius also wf«iied that the animal should have fur with tho hair all lying parallel ; whereas in nearly every fur except that of the seal, when the long hairs are removed the grain and direction follow the anatomy of the body, and give un unevenness to the whole. To eifect these objects the artist had out out the 'tit-bits' of sable skius, and *i:vi<led these into tiny Btrips averaging fro'i) au inch to half an inch in length. 1 bese strips wore all from the same part of On sable's body, and were covered with i\:v ni Jevon length, lustre, and thickness. '! tHy were then sewn together with minute art, *q that at the back the skin looked like h jv ton work of tiny parallelograms like the t-'qj.areH on a fritillary flower, averaging Jioni three to four in the square inch. In fr.ui 1 tho fur was absolutely uniform, homogeneous, and apparently without seam vi ji lining— the kind of giant sable skin which might appear in dreams as the ideal ot a Kuaiaa bride's trousseau*

But Li Hung Ohaug's furriers had produced something better than this— v iur robe which can justly claim to bo au improvement ou anything that naturo haa givou us in tho rarest furs of beasts. Sable wu.B again the material used. In this robe also the skius were divided and rejoined ho as to secure uniformity of tint, fur, ami setting. But in this robe bo mudo the artist had inserted at intervals tho skin of tho sable's shoulder aud foro-paw. This, when cut out, laid flat, and sewn together, with a littlo addition to thn curves, forms ( an ' ocellus ' like a peacock's eye iv sable damask, for tho tint of tho robo was uuiform, aud ouly the difference in tho lio and texture of the fur produced tho onnimont. The rewult was tho creation of a sable skin adorned at regular intervals with an apparently natural ornaniout of peacock's eyes, such as one soes in the tail of the white peacock, indicated by the baine alternations of reflection and lights as m damusk. Tho magnificence of this conception needs no comment — Spectator.