Many gifts were given to President Clinton during his administration. A number of them were on display in his library. A sign explained the practice very well: “STATE GIFTS—No state visit is complete without an exchange of gifts. These gestures of diplomacy and goodwill date back to the earliest days of our history, though the founders of our nation accepted the practice reluctantly. There was a fear that giving or accepting a gift might look like a bribe. President George Washington, however, soon discovered that there was simply no polite way to refuse a gift from other heads of state or their representatives. So to avoid diplomatic misunderstandings, presidents may accept gifts, but only on behalf of the people of the United States. Today, all such gifts from world leaders are in the care of the National Archives and its Presidential Libraries, and do indeed belong to the people.”
As you can imagine, the gifts were displayed behind glass. Because the outside walls were made of glass, a lot of light flooded the rooms and cast reflections on the glass cases, thwarting my amateur, photographic skills. I cut around the objects of interest and “painted” a background that hopefully fits accordingly. Nice egg here.
I like the way this elephant turned out.
Like a ski or surf board.
This is another image that I had to twist into a reasonably accurate shape, as I took it at a severe angle. I didn’t try to deal with the reflections. There were too many.
All the glass in the library provided a pleasant airiness.
An unexpected, fully appointed dining room table.
Lovely place settings.
Not exactly a little brown jug.
There is more than one way to wear pearls.
Beautiful jade.
Reflections were sometimes problematic.
This elephant was taken seriously.
![Image](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49879440537_ff112b6813_c.jpg)