One novel addition has been made to the College since students returned back for the spring term. However, this addition is not so novel. It is actually centuries old and can be found near the bottom of the stairs on the ground floor of Wold. It is the College’s Chinese Stone Lion. Recently, the Concordiensis was able to secure an interview with Professor Sheri Lullo, who is an associate professor of art history and the current director of Asian studies. She was closely involved with the restoration of the Chinese Stone Lion, and is very familiar with the history.
Reverend John Marshall Willoughby Farnham graduated from Union in 1856. Following this he went to seminary in the United States to eventually become a Presbyterian missionary. He landed in China in the early 1860s. Farnham started a school and Church somewhere in or around Shanghai. During this time, there was a civil war going on known as the Taiping Rebellion. It is believed that the Chinese Stone Lion was unearthed while Farnham or others were digging trenches. The lion then was gifted to the college in 1876 after staying in Shanghai with Farnham.
The Chinese Stone Lion was first put behind President Eliphalet Nott Potter’s house. The students were not told about its arrival or what it even was. Nott Potter was an extremely controversial president at the time, and is still considered that way today. It is believed that as a result of this, the tradition of painting the lion was born. A student painted the Lion the first night it was here. He later wrote about it in an alumni magazine. Following this first night the tradition grew. The Chinese Stone Lion was an object of class rivalries: Juniors would make the Sophomores paint it their class color, for example. Sometime in the nineteenth or early twentieth century, the Chinese Stone Lion became known as “The Idol”. Students were unaware of Lion’s Chinese background as Chinese art was not common or well understood at this point in history. Therefore, they thought it looked like a mystical object or idol. In fact, when students would paint or fight for the colors on the Chinese Stone Lion, they would call it worship. It is now understood that this and the Lion’s old name can be considered orientalism and an appropriation of Chinese culture.
In China, these Lions are nothing mythical or idolistic. They stand guard outside of doorways of palaces, usually in pairs of a male and female lion. In Fall of 2020, former President Harris convened the History and Symbols committee to assess the inclusivity and modernity of a 225-year-old school. The committee decided that the position and use of the Chinese Stone Lion as a rivalry object was not fully dignifying its historical and cultural significance. It is at this point when the committee, with the help of college librarian Francis Maloy and the collections manager Sarah Mottalini, began the restoration of the Chinese Stone Lion. After some time, the Lion was able to be transported to Williamstown Art Conservation Center. For four years, conservers carefully used a combination of heat and solvents to break down the layers from 153 years of Union tradition. And recently, the Chinese Stone Lion became ready to be on display again.
The lion now sits in a large glass display case on the ground floor of Wold atrium, with lights illuminating it at all times. Since the paint was removed, many more details of the lion have come to light: carvings in the lion’s head and mane, as well as other details throughout the body. One important piece that has surfaced is the gender or the lion. The lion is a female! This is known by the stone that appears to be in front of the lion, something underneath her paws. However, it is not clear today, since the Lion has been toppled and put back together so many times. This stone is a baby lion on top of a ball that the baby is playing with. This is traditional for female Chinese Stone Lions.
Coming sometime in May, a case across the way from the Lion’s current position will open. This case will contain a more complete story of the Lion, as well as including some of the paint chips that were acquired during the restoration. The Chinese Stone Lion is part of the permanent collection at Union college and is here to stay. But it leaves many to wonder just how many more wonders the college has in its permanent collection that are not on display at all times due to a lack of museum space.
