Object Details
- Previous custodian or owner
- Jun Tsei Tai 戴潤齋 (1911-1992)
- C.T. Loo 盧芹齋 (1880-1957)
- Lu Wu Antiques Co. 盧吳古玩公司 (1911-ca. 1949)
- C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
- Provenance
- Before 1947
- Jun Tsei Tai (1911-1992), Shanghai, China to February 1949 then New York, NY [1]
- 1947
- Lu Wu Antiques Co., Shanghai, China purchased from Jun Tsei Tai in Shanghai [2]
- February 1947
- C.T. Loo & Company, New York, by transfer from Lu Wu Antiquities Co. in February 1947 in Shanghai, China [3]
- From July 1947
- Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C.T. Loo & Company in July 1947 [4]
- Notes:
- [1] Jun Tsei Tai (more commonly known in the West as J.T. Tai), known also as Dai Fubao in Shanghai, was an incredibly successful art dealer who was initially based in Shanghai China. Tai became one of C.T. Loo's most prolific suppliers in the 1940s. In 1949, however, J.T. Tai fled with his family to Hong Kong, when Communist leaders wanted to arrest him for exporting Chinese art. In 1950, he immigrated to New York City, where he established J.T. Tai & Company, an immensely successful company that specialized in the sale of Chinese arts.
- See C.T. Loo's stock card no. NYL-7/982: "Bronze hill-censer on a wide spreading foot with three dragons in relief inlaid with gold, silver and various stones. Body decorated with bands of abstract motives in gold, silver with turquoise and rubies. Cover with fine rows of hills with hunting scenes, fighting animals and birds in gold, silver and hard stones inlaid, many stones missing Late Chou," copy in object file. The card states that this object came from J.T. Tai.
- [2] Lu Wu was an export business that supplied C.T. Loo & Company, New York and Paris with Chinese. Loo formed this company in 1926. The name, Lu Wu combines the names of C. T. Loo and Wu Qi Zhou, Lu Wu's primary associates. The business acquired objects from across China, but everything passed through Shanghai before being sent to France. Zhou and Laio would send all acquisitions to Shanghai, where Wu packaged and shipped them to France. J.T. Tai (see note 1) began working with Lu Wu around 1938. Tai operated Fuyun zhai guwandian, a shop with a large inventory in Shanghai.
- [3] See C.T. Loo & Company stock card cited in note 1.
- [4] See C.T. Loo & Company invoice, date July 8, 1947, copy in object file.
- Related Online Resources
- Google Cultural Institute
- See more items in
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
- On View
- Freer Gallery 18: Art and Industry: China's Ancient Houma Foundry
- Date
- ca. 2nd century BCE
- Period
- Early Western Han dynasty
- Accession Number
- F1947.15a-b
- Credit Line
- Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
- Topic
- animal
- landscape
- Daoism
- Western Han dynasty (206 BCE - 9 CE)
- inlay
- casting
- incense
- China
- Chinese Art
- WWII-era provenance
- Origin
- Henan or Hebei province, China
- Medium
- Bronze with gold, silver, turquoise, and carnelian inlay
- Dimensions
- H x W: 17.9 x 10 cm (7 1/16 x 3 15/16 in)
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Metalwork
- Vessel
- Record ID
- fsg_F1947.15a-b
3D Model