Object size: 112.0 x 49.0 x 49.0 cm
This is a model of the Precious Pagoda (Bao ta 宝塔) in Pingliang, Gansu. The 7-storey brick pagoda was constructed in 1457 A.D. during the Ming period, and measures 55.2 metres in height. 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.
