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The Peacock Room in Blue and White
Since its dramatic transformation from a dining room into a work of art, the Peacock Room has experienced a dramatic historic. In the early 1870s its walls were covered with floral-embossed leather. Frederick Leyland, the dining room's owner, used the space to display his collection of Chinese porcelain after James McNeill Whistler painted every surface -- walls, shutters, and ceiling -- with peacock motifs.
In 1904, Charles Lang Freer purchased this room, shipped it from London, installed it in his home in Detroit, Michigan, and displayed ceramics from throughout Asia on its shelves. When the Freer Gallery of Art opened in 1923, the shelves were sparsely filled. Freer's Asian ceramics again enlivened the space from 2012 to 2019. The room has now been returned to its late nineteenth-century appearance. |