The International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and the Mine, or the “Centennial Exhibition,” Philadelphia 1876

The 1876 Centennial Exhibition, one of America’s first great international exhibitions, was a celebration of technology, social progress, and economic prosperity. Anchored by displays of largely American engineering marvels, including huge Corliss engines, the latest locomotives, electric lights, steam elevators, typewriters, telegraphs, and the telephone, the fair exuded the inevitability of technological progress, now to be led by the United States. Asia was represented among the dozens of international exhibitions, including a large Chinese exhibit organized by Robert Hart, Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, a number of major British and American trading companies, and others (Haddad 2000:54). Some 720 crates were shipped from China to Philadelphia, including exquisite items from the huge art collection of Hu Guangyong 胡光墉 (1823-1885), a powerful Hangzhou banker. This was the first major display of Chinese goods in the US since the early “China Museums” of the 1830s-1840s.

Opening the Market

The 1876 Centennial Exhibition provided an opportunity to market Chinese wares to the American marketplace. This exquisite “moon bed” was one of a number of pieces of furniture on display from the renowned Sung Sing Kung furniture factory, Ningbo, China. The reception was enthusiastic, with one American viewer writing that “There is a large exhibit of carved furniture, all in the Chinese style. The carvings are both artistic in design and well executed. Two elaborate bedsteads are exhibited, which are very handsome, and show that John Chinaman has any eye to solid comfort in the midst of all his love of gaudy colors and gingerbread ornaments.” (McCabe 1876: 418)

After the 1876 Centennial Exhibition closed, many objects were donated or purchased by museums or collectors. This “moon bed” passed through several collectors’ hands, eventually ending up in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, where it is a glorious example of late Qing dynasty export furniture.