D3-117: Chinese Sculpture

Item

Identifier: D3-117
Title: Chinese Sculpture
Type: artwork
Date Created: 19th century
Description: Chinese stone sculpture found during the excavations prior to building the greenhouses for the College Gardens and horticulture students. It is believed that the sculpture was part of a Japanese Village which was part of the in the 1887 Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition. It is a Taoist scuplture depicting several deities, accourding to a letter from the Deputy Keeper of Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1968. From the left the deities are the Ch'ang the Moon Queen, Ch'ih-chang the Sun King, Shou Lau the God of Longevity with his deer and the central figure is Fu Hsing or Lu Hsingthe God of happiness or weath.
Subject: Saltaire village
Associated person or organisation: Technical and Art School
Associated place or event: Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition site, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom; Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition
Related dates (range): 1887 – 1887
Source: Untraced Find: Unknown
Access Rights: To view the full story please contact the Saltaire Collection
Abstract: The Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition was held in Saltaire in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee and more importantly, for Saltaire, to help meet the costs of the new School of Art and Science that had been built on Exhibition Road as a memorial to Sir Titus Salt. It was opened by Princess Beatrice and included exhibition stands, a concert hall, a bandstand, refreshment rooms and pleasure grounds and entertainments.

At the far end of the exhibition grounds there was a Japanese art and industrial exhibition in the form of a village reportedly ‘peopled by Native Men, Women, and Children' and illustrating the 'industrial, social, and domestic life of Japan.’ There was even a splendidly embellished Buddhist Temple.

The Shipley Times of 7 May 1887 reported:

A complete tour of the Exhibition is not made until the Japanese village at the East end of the Exhibition grounds has been visited and Mr. Tannaker Buchicrossan has provided there entertainment and instruction sufficient to satisfy the most exacting.

During building work on Exhibition Road in 1976 a sculpture was found that is believed to have been part of the village. It is now part of the Saltaire Collection. The Victoria and Albert Museum have confirmed that the sculpture is actually Chinese.
Has Format: image