Page 100 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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Meyer’s offer, “Regarding Mr. Meyer’s offer to you of 25000, for the bronze, I think it

wise for you to accept the same. Mr. Meyer is (one?) of your best customers and I believe

that in offering you 25000, he felt that he was giving you as much as he should, and in

dealing with Mr. Meyer you will, I believe, find him always willing to pay what he

believes to be a fair price for any object he admires, and while occasionally his figure

may seem to you a little lower than you might be able to get elsewhere, you will, I

believe, in the end profit most by meeting Mr. Meyer’s price whenever you can

consistently do so. Furthermore, selling to Mr. Meyer to-day seems to me very much

better than searching for some other customer later, especially when you consider the

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average uncertainties of business.”

Dealer-Museum

The museum was another important client of Loo’s. He was in close contact with over

fifteen American museums, and some of the most prominent objects that he handled have

become museum holdings today. Loo was a well-recognized figure in the museum world,

as indicated by his presence with other dignitaries as guests at the opening of the Nelson

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Gallery.

The close relationship between Loo and museums was not coincidental. On the one

hand, museums needed dealers. American museums’ interest in Chinese art surged in the

first half of the twentieth century. From the mid-1920s onwards, the enthusiasm for

Chinese art was signaled by the formation of important Chinese art collections as well as

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C. T. Loo to C.L. Freer, June 15, 1916; C. L. Freer to C. T. Loo, June 16, 1916.
CLFP-FGA.
205 New York Times, December 11, 1933.