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Volume 051-2 - April 1997 (8 pages)
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Page: of 8
The Chinese Altar and Artifacts
[From an information sheet compiled for visitors to the
Firehouse Museum.]
— MYTHS HAVE EXISTED concerning the
Chinese altar we have at the museum. Research has been
done to discover the true facts. Members of the Tinloy family
visited the museum and filled in some of the blanks; Peter
van de Pas translated some of the writings, and a woman
from the Chinese Legation who is an expert in Mandarin
writing translated many of the signs and other writings on the
altar. As a result of their investigations, these facts emerge:
1. The altar was built in the year 1877 in the Honan
Province of China near Mount Sung, 35 miles east-southeast
of Lo-Yang, in the northern portion of Honan Province. The
altar was made during the Ch’Ing Dynasty in the reign of
Kuang-hsii.
2. The vessels are pewter and were made in Hong Kong in
1877.
3. When the altar and vessels arrived in Grass Valley, they
were installed in the Hou Wong Joss House, where the religious order combined the Buddhist traits of transmigration
of the soul and the Taoist emphasis on reason and virtue.
4. The long poles with the metal on top were used for
special ceremonies. The metal part was filled with rice and
the whole thing shaken.
5. The carvings on the front of the altar are covered with
gold leaf. The number of layers is unknown. The eyes of the
small dragons are sapphires, and the eyes of the large dragons
are emeralds.
7. The altar is set up to match a 1933 photograph of the
interior of the Hou Wong Joss House.
8. The inscriptions on the back altar read as follows:
a. Left hand panel: “Altar with lighted candles shines the
light of good luck.”
b. Right hand panel: “Incense holder with burning incense
brings forth an air of good luck.”
9. Except for the Joss House, the greater portion of the
Chinese exhibit came here in 1978 from the Amador City
museum of the late Frank Fish. It includes items typical of
those used by Chinese residents of Nevada County.
a. The red gown is a ceremonial gown of an emperor of
the Ch’ Ing Dynasty.
b. The black gown is a ceremonial gown of an empress of
the Ch’Ing Dynasty.
c. The statue in the black frame is an emperor of the
Ch’ Ing Dynasty.
d. The statue by the stairway is a Buddhist Monk.
e. The Buddha statue in the small shrine benefits health,
wealth, and lots of sons. (Daughters were not prized.)
f. The goddess on the red covered table is Quon Yin,
goddess of mercy. The inscription over the goddess reads,
“Calm the seas.”
g. The clay barrel at the end of the Donner Case is a wine
barrel and one of the few barrels in California that is not
broken and still has metal bands around it.
h. The dog hanging on the wall was painted not by a
Chinese person but a foreigner—Chinese artists of the time
did not paint dogs or cats. The inscription at the top is a poem “™
of commendation from the emperor.
i. The dragon symbolizes strength and power.
j. The word “coolie” (referring to Chinese laborers) comes
from the Chinese “ku-li” meaning “bitter strength.”
(Photos by Priscilla van der Pas.)
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