Object size: 33.0 x 16.0 x 15.0 cm
This model of a Tibetan stupa is based on one 11 metres tall on the road from Kangding (Tatsienlu/Dajianlu) to Tibet. Kangding is considered the historical border between the Kham region of Tibet and the Sichuan region of China. The stupa is made of bricks and has a square base.The model is one of a set of 84 carved after famous originals scattered throughout China, for the Chinese exhibition at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) in San Francisco, one of the first to represent the newly formed Republic of China. Scaled down at a ratio of 1:50, they were made by the Tushanwan 土山湾 Workshop, a Christian orphanage in Shanghai that trained its residents in vocational art and crafts. The woodcarving workshop, supervised by the Bavarian-born Jesuit Aloysius Beck (1854-1931), employed both local and Western styles and techniques to produce figures of traditional Chinese gods alongside those of Catholic saints.
