Carved Bedstead, Chinese Section — Main Building, Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia

The objectphotographed as held, uncropped

Catalogue description

An elaborately carved and canopied bedstead installed in an exhibition hall, flanked by carved cabinets and screens and hung with embroidered textiles, with the iron roof structure of the Main Building visible above. Two figures stand at the left of the display.

This is Chinese material culture presented as national exhibit at the United States Centennial: goods shipped in, arranged in a section, and photographed by the exhibition’s own official photographic company for sale to visitors.

It belongs in this collection as the counterpart to the street views. In Philadelphia in 1876 China was being displayed to Americans as craft, luxury and spectacle in a purpose-built hall; in San Francisco in the same decade Chinese people were being photographed on the street as a district to be walked through. Both were sold as stereographs, often to the same households.

Transcriptiontext on the object, as printed

CENTENNIAL PHOTOGRAPHIC CO.   PHILA.
NEW EXCELSIOR SERIES   1776
Carved Bedstead, Chinese Section—Main Building.

Historical context

The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, was the first official World’s Fair held in the United States and drew roughly ten million visitors. The Centennial Photographic Co. held the exclusive photographic concession and produced thousands of views of the grounds and displays. The Chinese section in the Main Building was among the exhibits most reported in the popular press.

What is not known

• The two figures at the left of the display are not identified and their role — attendants, exhibitors or visitors — is not stated.