Ornamental gateway of carved teak. Made in the Catholic Orphanage at Sikkawei, Shanghai, for San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. Later transferred to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where the gateway was exhibited for more than ten years before being loaned to the Chinese government's exhibit at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition "under a future sale or exchange agreement with the Chinese Consul-General (Dr. Yih Keliang)." After the close of the first season of the Exposition in the fall of 1933, the gateway was sold to George M. Chan of 68 West Randolph St., Chicago, for $1500.
Chan had been in charge of moving the gateway from the Field Museum to a storage area near the Exposition site on May 9 and 10, 1932. He had the concession to operate the China Cafe in the Exposition's Chinese Village.
Sources: Field Museum's Registrar's archives for Accession #1242, and Exposition records stored in the Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago Library's Special Collections records.
