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    A long, high table of carved red sandalwood, ornamented with dragons, stood against the wall underneath. In the centre of this was a huge antique bronze ding, fully a yard high, covered with a green patina. On the wall above the ding hung a long vertical scroll with an ink-painting of a dragon emerging from clouds and waves, of the kind often presented to high court officials in token of their office. The ding was flanked on one side by a smaller antique bronze vessel with a pattern of gold inlay and on the other by a crystal bowl. At each side of the table stood a row of eight yellow cedar-wood armchairs with their backs to the wall; and above the chairs hung, one on each side, a pair of vertical ebony boards inlaid with a couplet in characters of gold:
(on the right-hand one)
May the jewel of learning shine in this house more effulgently than the sun and moon.
(on the left-hand one)
May the insignia of honour glitter in these halls more brilliantly than the starry sky.
读到这里想起在明尼阿波利斯艺术馆看到的一个展出：清代苏州大户人家的家庭陈设。