China and the West

Lawrence, D.H. The letters of D.H. Lawrence [ID D31624].
Letter from D.H. Lawrence to Grace Crawford ; 9 July, 1910.
Herewith the Lute of Jade [ID D9273]: it is a ghastly little object, but then, this yellow is truly oriental. I have seen little Burmese gentlemen, very tiny, like sprigs of golden privet, skating like bits of yellow machinery round and round the Crystal Palace rink : and they did look unhappy. Poor Orientals : even the Lute of Jade is sick yellow with us. When it talks it is moving – but scarcely musical : full of the lofty Chinese spirit, abstract and noble, which I admire so much – it is the same in their paintings in the British Museum – but the lute itself chinks rather like brass pennies. ‘On the Banks of Jo-Yeh’[Li Bo] is one of the best : the third verse is very good.

Letter from D.H. Lawrence to Louie Burrows ; 3 Nov., 1911.
I wonder when I shall buy things for ourselves. One of the bowls was so pretty – a French theme in violets and grey leaves, on pure china.

Letter from D.H. Lawrence to Walter de la Mare ; 16 May, 1912.
Commend me to Edward Thomas, and to the 50 – or 25 Chinese poems man, if you happen to see either of them. [Bax, Clifford. Twenty Chinese poems ID D29126].