Bowls hold historic journey

The US State Department in Foggy Bottom may look like just another boring office building, yet few people realize that inside, 42 rooms on the seventh and eighth floors have been transformed into the style of early American houses and are used by the president, vice-president and secretary of state to receive foreign officials in homespun elegance and style.

What even fewer people might know is that many of the rooms also have a strong Chinese flavor.

"So much of the influence on American decorative art is from China," says Marcee Craighill, director and curator of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the State Department.