Page 49 - Bonhams Chinese Scholar's Art March 2014
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Major William Randall McDonnell Parr (1865-1938)
with Chinese Associates
Property from the Collection of
William Randal McDonnell Parr (1865-1938)
William Randal McDonnell Parr (1865-1938) was an Irish which sought to preserve Tibet as a buffer zone between
citizen and British subject who spent several decades Russia and British India. Parr’s depth of knowledge of the
in China working as a customs official for the Chinese area as well as his language skills were key in facilitating
government. Born in Ulster in 1865, Parr first arrived in relations between the different parties.
China in 1887 and worked closely with the Inspector
General Sir Robert Hart. Over the course of his career Parr Parr’s years of service to the Chinese government are
would serve posts in Kowloon, Tianjin, Chongqing, and evinced here by lot 8081, the two sets of insignia—the
Yatung Tibet. When Parr was posted in Tibet in 1903-1904 Order of the Double Dragon and the Order of the Golden
he worked closely with Colonel Francis Younghusband Grain—the first presented to him by the Qing Imperial
(1863-1942) during the Younghusband Tibet Expedition, government, the latter by the Early Republic government.
Chinese Art from the Scholars Studio | 47
