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A silvered-iron staircase by sculptor Joseph Csaky ascended to three rooms so packed with modern art, African masks, and Orientalia that they had a Victorian aura, recalling the rich decor at rue Spontini.

Today it is easy to view the piece as a projection of Western fantasies about Japanese culture, young Japanese women as exquisitely devoted love objects and part of a vogue for "Orientalia" that swept Europe after long-isolated Japan opened its borders to the West in the 1850s and exposed its vibrant cultural traditions.

Orientalis 125, described incorrectly by Lagarde, Orientalia, Heft i. p.

I lost belief in my subject matter -- I dismissed it as 'Orientalia for the intelligentsia' -- and virtually stopped writing for two years.

"An intact Jaipur vase to replace one cracked en route from the Far East," requests Chicago Orientalia Buff Pat Delaney, who covered the Midwest auction scene.