Baochu Pagoda (Baochuta) 保俶塔

Title
Baochu Pagoda (Baochuta) 保俶塔
Year/Period
circa 1915 A.D.
Region
Shanghai
Dimension
Object size: 79.2 cm,
Object size: 112.0 x 52.0 x 42.5 cm
Accession No.
2023-00396

This is a model of Baoxu Pagoda 宝叙塔. Located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the 7-storey octagonal pagoda measures 39.6 metres tall. 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.