MASCOT IN A THOBE AND BISHT IS 'AT PEACE WITH BEING BOTH,' CURATORS REPORT

The Gallery hangs Saudi Duck from the Sketchbook this week: the Oregon Duck, of college-football fame, standing in the Saudi desert in a crisp thobe and a green bisht, arms folded, with an oasis and a minaret behind it.

It arrives the same week the front page reviews Mr. Samman's wardrobe in three looks, from loud American T-shirts to the thobes he wears now, and visitors have been quick to make the connection. "It's both," said a docent. "It isn't a duck pretending to be Saudi, or a Saudi pretending to be a duck. It's a duck that has stopped explaining."

Fashion critics invited in for the week approve. Trent Dee called the bisht "a statement that doesn't need a slogan printed on it," which he described as growth. Vin Tayge asked whether the Duck still owns any loud T-shirts and was told the Duck owns feathers.

Staff confirm the piece was checked for scent before hanging. It smells, they report, faintly of oud and of nothing that belongs at a party. A hockey coach passing through reminded the Gallery that ducks fly together. The Duck, arms still folded, stayed exactly where it was. It has nowhere it needs to be.