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THE CHANDELIER (Picture...)
Although this lighting fixture is original to the house, neither it nor the gas wall sconces were lit by either gas or electricity until the early years of the twentieth century. Electricity did not reach this part of Riverside until 1906 and natural gas service was not available until 1911.
Fixtures like this were made to be illuminated with either gas (note the gas cocks on the pipe leading to each "candle") or electricity, depending on the power source available. In some households, like this one, where neither was available, a homeowner might provide gas to lighting fixtures
from a tank of carbide gas kept in the basement. We know that this was not done in this house as carbide gas leaves a blue residue on pipes and the pipes for the sconces are clean. It is safe to assume that this house was illuminated by candles and oil lamps until electricity entered the house.
CENTER TABLE (Picture...)
The porcelain cruet with floral sprays at the base is part of the house's original furnishings.
SERVANT'S CALL BUTTON (no picture...)
There is a call button located in nearly every room of the house. Pushing this button causes a bell to ring in the kitchen where a number indicating the room pops up in the original servant's call box. Because electricity did not enter this house until the early twentieth century, the call button system was originally powered by a dry-cell battery.
PORTRAIT OF LOUIS BETTNER (Picture...)
Mrs. Bettner had this posthumous portrait painted from a photograph of the young man taken shortly before his death in early 1891. He was only twenty-four years old and had suffered from tuberculosis. The watch fob features the image of a black-widow spider, presumably the artist's sign that the subject was deceased.
IVORY STATUE (Picture...)
(note: Statue is not in panorama, it was on exhibit elsewhere at the time the panoramas
where photographed)
This statue represents the Chinese General Yueh Fei. Born a farmer's son in 1103, Yueh Fei received little formal education but used his physical strength, bravery, and strict moral code to gain a position as armed guard on a wealthy estate.
When invading foreigners overran Northern China, Yueh Fei joined the Sung army as it retreated to the Yangtze River. His leadership qualities facilitated his rapid promotion to the rank of general.
Under Yueh Fei's leadership, the Chinese army regained some territory occupied by the enemy. Further advances were retarded in 1141, however, when Emperor KaoT'sung -- uncertain of victory, concerned about escalating military costs, and suspicious of treachery among his generals -- chose to negotiate an honorable peace. Leading officers were stripped of their commands and Yueh Fei, after protesting this, was executed for treason.
Believed to have been carved between 1750 and 1825, this statue exhibits the elaborate workmanship representative of the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644 - 1912).
The popularity of Yueh Fei soared during the militaristic Ch'ing period and his story inspired many statues, shrines, and plays. In modern China, he is extolled as "champion of national resistance in the face of foreign domination" and a half-hour radio program has been broadcast daily presenting "The Ballad of Yueh Fei."
The statue is carved from a single ivory elephant tusk. Only the spear point and the head-dress finial are detachable.
The depiction of the various animal heads clothing Yueh Fei presents him as a hunter and fearless military leader. Likewise, his long beard is a sign of martial virility.
On the back of Yueh Fei's robe is a dragon -- a symbol of water and fertility and the supreme political icon of the Chinese people. This five-clawed dragon is reserved for possessions of the emperor -- dragons for common people having only three claws -- and indicates the probable origin of this statue as a part of the Imperial collection.
The intricately carved mail depicts not metal chain, but strong vegetable fiber preferred for its light weight.
The placement of this statue in the parlor, along with 1880s Satsuma style vases on either side of the fireplace, reiterate the popularity of all things Oriental in the late nineteenth century. There is another, just like it, at the Greves Gallery in Sheffield, England.
Back to general description of the Parlor ...
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