Page 44 - Bonhams Olivier Collection Early Chinese Art November 2018

THE C.T.LOO PARCEL-GILT
SILVER ‘CARP’ BOWLS

盧芹齋舊藏銀局部鎏金鯉魚紋盌 一對

C.T. Loo (1880-1957)

C. T. Loo was one of the most prominent figures in the world 盧芹齋先生，中國古董藝術圈內其中一位最知名的人物，享
of Chinese art. Native of Lujiadou, a village west of Shanghai, 負盛名；生於浙江省湖州盧家渡，1902年離鄉前赴巴黎，旅
Loo moved to Paris in 1902. In 1908, Loo established his 居法國。1908年，於巴黎成立「來遠樓公司」，專營轉售歐
own gallery, ‘Lai-Yuan and Company’, in Paris, from which 洲行家的貨源，生意興隆；續於1911年北京及上海兩地開設
he sold inventories acquired from European dealers. In 1911, 分號。此時正值清室搖搖欲墜，兩千年帝制分崩離析之時。
other branches of the gallery were opened in Beijing and 社會動盪不安，人心惶惶，令為數不少由寺廟及陵墓所出土
Shanghai. This time coincided with the collapse of the Qing 的塑像，以及宮廷及私人所收藏的器物源源不絕地流入古董
dynasty, when millennia of Chinese imperial rule came to an 市場。貨源充足，令來遠樓生意蒸蒸日上。
end and numerous objects including sculptures from temples,
mausoleums, and imperial and private collections surfaced 1920至30年代期間，盧芹齋先生於中國古董藝術圈內的地位
on the art market. Loo’s prominence as a Chinese art dealer 仍然舉足輕重。1926年盧芹齋先生開設「巴黎紅樓」：一座
continued throughout the 1920s and 1930s, when he opened 富中國建築特色的五層高藝廊，當時正值一戰後戰間期，藝
the “Pagoda,” an outstanding five-story gallery in Paris as 術交易中心逐漸轉移至美國紐約，而美國新建的博物館對購
Chinese art trade flourished as new museums in the United 藏中國藝術品亦逐見興趣。1941年底美國加入二戰，以及後
States hosting Chinese art collections were established. Loo’s 續的國共內戰，皆令古董生意經營困難。有見及此，盧芹齋
business began to decline in the 1940s when the United States 先生逐於古稀之年結束生意，頤養天年，時值1950年。
entered World War II and civil war broke out in China, leading
to his retirement in 1950 at the age of seventy.

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