Word: porcelain
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...woolen underpants the Red Guards had allowed my daughter to keep after they looted our home in 1966. The padded jacket of navy blue woolen material lined with maroon silk was new in 1966, and it looked new now. With trembling hands, I picked up the white porcelain mug Meiping used for tea and found it was stained faintly brown inside. It had not been washed, and the tea had dried. My heart thumped faster and faster as I examined each article. I could not help thinking that something terrible had happened to my daughter not long after...
...drawing room. On them lay cameras, watches, clocks, binoculars and silverware that the Red Guards had gathered from all over the house. These were the ''valuables'' they intended to present to the state. Mounting the stairs, I was astonished to see several Red Guards taking pieces of my porcelain collection out of their padded boxes. One young man had arranged a set of four Kangxi wine cups in a row on the floor and was stepping on them. I was just in time to hear the crunch of delicate porcelain under the sole of his shoe. The sound pierced...
...shouting at me angrily for interfering in their revolutionary activities. One of the teachers said to me, ''What do you think you are doing? Are you trying to protect your possessions?'' ''No, no, you can do whatever you like with my things. But you mustn't break these porcelain treasures. They are old and valuable and cannot be replaced,'' I said rather breathlessly. ''Shut up! Shut up!'' A chorus drowned out my voice. I picked up one of the remaining wine cups and said, ''This is nearly 300 years old. You seem to value the cameras, watches and binoculars...
...remaining wine cups in the box and went upstairs to inspect the damage. My heart sank. On the third floor landing were fragments of porcelain in colors of oxblood, imperial yellow, celadon green and blue-and-white. The third-floor rooms resembled a scene after an earthquake. The Red Guards had emptied my storage cupboard. Flour, sugar and food lay on top of heaps of clothing they had taken out of cupboards. They had already dealt with my fur coats and evening dresses with scissors. The ceiling fan was whirling. Bits of fur, silk and torn tissue paper were flying...
...Monet worked in the Netherlands not just in 1871, but again in 1874 and 1886, and biographers offer wildly varying accounts of that first, life-altering Japanese print he bought: it was in Amsterdam, or Delft or Zaandam; at a food shop or a porcelain store; it was being used as wrapping paper or hanging on a wall. Monet himself recalled: "My true discovery of Japan, the purchase of my first prints, dates from 1856. I was 16. I spotted them at Le Havre, in a shop that dealt in curiosities brought back by foreign travelers." But even here...