The Story of Union's Chinese Stone Lion

Items

• Rev. John Marshall Willoughby Farnham sends the stone lion to Union College
• Farnham recounts his purchase of the lion from a family in Shanghai.
• Farnham places the Chinese stone lion in front of his school for boys. It is a female lion with a cub and is missing its traditional male mate.
• Rev. John Marshall Willoughby Farnham moves to Shanghai with his wife, Mary J. Scott, and establishes the Qing Xin (Pure Heart) Church, and school for boys (later known as Qingxin Shuyuan or Lowrie High School)
• French and British troops loot the Summer Palace outside Beijing, flooding art markets with objects from the imperial collection.
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  Rev. John Marshall Willoughby Farnham graduates from Union College

  The Reverend John Marshall Willoughby Farnham, Union Class of 1856. “Office of College Relations Records.” Special Collections, Schaffer Library, Union College.
• Taiping Rebellion
• John R. Peters establishes "The Great Chinese Museum" with large collections of Chinese objects to encourage American appreciation.
• Nathan Dunn establishes the "Chinese Museum" with large collections of Chinese objects to encourage American appreciation.
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  John Marshall Willoughby Farnham, UC 1856, purchases lion for Union College.

  Carved from marble; lion sits upright, resting on its hind legs with its head tilted downward. Mane visible and frames face. The lion cradles a cub.
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  Group of Students Painting Chinese Stone Lion, Photograph