Title: Yang She
Secondary Title: Woman with a Facial Tumor
Description: Oil on Canvas 24 x 18 inches, ca. 1837
Tumor: Original diagnosis: Sarcomatous tumour
Case Number: 3790
Year: 1837
Modern Suggestion: According to the doctors consulted by the Gordon: Giant pendunculated lipoma
Credit: Courtesy of The Gordon Museum
Dr. Peter Parker's Case History
From a subsequent report: "It was in the warm month of June when she first came to the hospital, the thermometer averaging 96 degrees in the shade. About to embark for Lew-chew in Japan, I advised her to defer the operation until the cold weather of autumn. But no delay could be acceded to on the part of the patient and her venerable grandfather. The tumor was removed. The operation was performed in about two minutes. The tumor weighted sixteen pounds. In ten days the wound was healed. In December, after my return from Japan (December 17, 1837), the patient returned to the hospital to express her gratitude, and brought with her her first-born son, a fine infant of six weeks old.
Additional Commentary
Note how the portrait of Yang She conveys all of the facial tension and distortion described in parker's report. The arms, which are only suggested in the painting, also convey the sense of bearing up a great weight. Contemplated in light of Parker's report the whole image conveys the tremendous struggle with gravity that Yang She had to endure because of her tumor.

The Mysteries of Lam Qua: Medical Portraiture in China 1836 - 1855
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