During the month of January important additions were made to the Chinese collection by the purchase of several stone statues of the T’ang Dynasty representing the best work of the Chinese sculptor. During February two stone pedestals were acquired. These pedestals formerly supported Buddhist statues. One exhibits on its four sides incised decorations representing the life of Buddha. This pedestal is undated, but is believed to be of the Tang Dynasty. The other pedestal is covered on its four sides with low relief and bears a date of the Wei Dynasty, corresponding to 524 A. D.
A collection of thirty Chinese paintings dating from a period extending from the T’ang to the Ming Dynasty, has been purchased from Dr. John C. Ferguson.
Three Chinese jade sceptres have been acquired by purchase.
In the Section of General Ethnology the following objects have been acquired.
One Tibetan mounted skull cup.
A Maori carved wooden box.
One large throne mat measuring 15 by 5 feet from the house of a chief of one of the tribes of Mindanao. This specimen is elaborately decorated by designs burnt on the surface of the mat.
One piece of tapa cloth from Fiji measuring 32 by 12 feet.
One suit of Moro armor made of buffalo horn and brass links.
Seven Philippine shields of the Bilaan and Moro tribes.
Three cases of ethnological specimens have been received from Messrs. Probst and Wight, who are engaged in collecting for the University Museum among the Kikuyu and other tribes of British East Africa.
Mr. H. U. Hall, who represented the University Museum on the Siberian Expedition sent out by the University Museum of Oxford and the University Museum of Philadelphia, returned in February from Siberia by way of Petrograd and London. Collections, photographs and notes made by the expedition were all brought through safely and the part of these collections belonging to this Museum has arrived.
A letter has been received from Mr. C. W. Bishop dated at Chengtu in the Province of Sze-chuan in China. Mr. Bishop reports considerable disturbance in that region on the part of revolutionists, but has been able to continue his work for the Museum even in remote parts.
Letters received from Mr. Clarence S. Fisher in charge of the Eckley B. Coxe, Jr., Expedition to Egypt, gives news of important results which this expedition has obtained through excavations in the cemetery at Dendereh. The tombs in this cemetery have yielded many objects of historic and artistic value dating from the Early Dynastic to the Ptolemaic Period.
An interesting acquisition made by the American Section is a painted buffalo robe presented by Mrs. Harry Waln Harrison. This robe has been in Mrs. Harrison’s family for many years. It is perfectly preserved and exhibits symbolism characteristic of the Ojibways. This robe will be published in another number of the JOURNAL.
On the evening of January 24th there was exhibited to an audience of about 1,200, a motion picture entitled The Cruise of the King and Winge. This film showed a voyage in the Arctic region and the rescue of a part of Stefansson’s crew.
On February 12th the President and Board of Managers held a reception at the Museum on the occasion of the opening of the Exhibition of Oriental Art in The Charles Custis Harrison Hall. Although the evening was a very stormy one, a large number of guests were present and the occasion proved to be a brilliant one. In addition to the regular exhibition, the Museum was able to exhibit on the floors on that evening a number of Chinese and Persian rugs and carpets of great beauty and rarity.
An exhibition of new accessions has been arranged in the old lecture room. In this exhibition are shown the collection from the Copper Eskimo of Coronation Gulf and Victoria Land recently acquired through Mr. John Wanamaker; the Siberian Collection obtained from the tribes between the Yenisei and the Lena by the Siberian Expedition; some of the Conebo pottery obtained by the Amazon Expedition; the objects excavated near Moorestown, New Jersey, last summer; together with a number of ethnological specimens recently purchased.