Porcher, Edwin Augustus, 1824-1878, 17. Joss house built in Tai-Pin-Shan in 1851. August 7, 1852, 1852 August 7
- Call Number:
- MSS 38
- Creator:
- Porcher, Edwin Augustus, 1824-1878
- Title(s):
- 17. Joss house built in Tai-Pin-Shan in 1851. August 7, 1852.
- Date:
- 1852 August 7
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series I: Drawings
- Part of Collection:
- Oversize 1
- Provenance:
- E.A. Porcher donated 16 drawings related to his Cyrene expedition to the British Museum in 1865. He left his remaining papers and watercolor works to Lieut. Col. Cecil Du Pre Penton Powney (b. 1862), his sister’s surviving son, who donated views, plans and elevations from the Cyrene expedition to the British Museum in 1894. The remaining manuscripts and drawings were inherited by Powney’s daughter, Beryl Wyndham Powney (c. 1896 -1976). Several components of the Porcher collection were sold by private dealers beginning in the 1970s (see 'Related Archival Materials Note' for Porcher holdings in other institutional collections).
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The materials are open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
- Scope and Content:
- “Joss House” was the derogatory term used by the British to refer to Chinese temples. The word “Joss” was derived from the Portuguese deos or God, adapted in the pidgin trading language at Chinese ports (Whitworth 463-464). Tai Ping Shan means “peace hill” and was named after the area’s peaceful settlement after the conclusion of an 1810 sea battle between pirates and Qing Dynasty warships. This peace was interrupted when British warships arrived, and the street became a traditional Chinese enclave in the Victoria Peak region otherwise dominated by the British garrison. Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist worshippers happily co-mingled along the street, and Porcher’s view likely depicts the temple devoted to “Jai Kung”, or “poor man’s Buddha”, constructed in 1851 as a temporary repository for the stone tablets of Hong Kong’s deceased, whose remains were far from their ancestral burial grounds. A statue of the god Tai Chong Wong presided over the souls of the deceased (Ingham 107-109). The image of the Chinese barber may have been inspired by the work of George Chinnery (1774-1852), who completed several sketches and at least one oil of the subject.
- Additional Notes:
- B1977.14.22219
- Physical Description:
- 1 drawing : watercolor, body color, heightened with white, on medium-thick beige paper, affixed to card mount ; sheet 26 x 36 cm, mount 36.5 x 52 cm
- Genre:
- Watercolors (paintings), Pictorial works, Diaries, Letters, and Ships' logs
- Subject Terms:
- Anglo-Burmese War, 2nd, 1852AntiquitiesAntiquities, RomanChinaChronColoniesDescription and travelExcavations (Archaeology)FortificationHarborsHistory, NavalJunksNavigationPagodasPiracyPiratesPunic antiquitiesShipsTemplesVoyages and travels
- Subject Period:
- 1849-18611850-1900
- Associated Places:
- AsiaBurmaCarthage (Extinct city)ChinaChina SeaCyrene (Extinct city)East AsiaGozo Island (Malta)Grand Harbour (Malta)Great BritainGuangzhou (China)Hong Kong (China)MaltaMellieh̳a (Malta)Pulau Pinang (Malaysia : State)Qrendi (Malta)SingaporeTrincomalee (Sri Lanka)Tunis (Tunisia)TunisiaUtica (Extinct city)Valletta (Malta)
- Associated People/Groups:
- Boxer (Ship : 1855-1865)Cleopatra (Ship : 1843)Davis, N. (Nathan), 1812-1882Great Britain. Royal NavyHarpy (Ship : 1845-1909)Hibernia (Ship : 1804-1902)Kertch (Ship)Melville, Harden Sidney, active 1837-1882Porcher, Edwin A., 1824-1878Porcher, Madelina
- Finding Aid Title:
- Edwin Augustus Porcher Collection
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/2813
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/2813?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1