Seduction of the Golden Pheasant – Damian Murphy (Mount Abraxas)

Description

Seduction of the Golden Pheasant follows the intrigues and compulsions of a young woman stationed in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire on the outskirts of Tours. Valérie spends the season of her exile in a moderate chateau endowed with tastefully restrained décor. The interiors are embellished with a proclivity for discretion, the furnishings kept simple and refined. The single exception to the modesty of style is the wallpaper, with which Valérie harbors an ever-increasing obsession. A lush and exotic landscape of deep azure on milky white unfolds in an intoxicating arrangement along the many walls of the chateau. Mountainous hills contend with lavish valleys, terraced rice fields give way to forests flush with wild boars; perhaps the most enticing among its manifold motifs are the intricate temples that occasionally appear within the windings of a river or perched upon an elevated plateau. The holy temples depicted on the walls exert a feverish influence over the impressionable tenant. The fires that flame unseen upon their hidden altars beckon to her, drawing her ever further into a rich mosaic of forbidden pleasures both sensual and sublime. At the center of her passion lies the elusive golden pheasant, the celestial bird of Imperial China that dares defy the statutes of a fallen aristocracy.