Page 116 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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for publishing over twenty well-researched and lavishly illustrated catalogues for his

collections. Most of these publications were carefully distributed among leading

collectors, scholars, and curators of Chinese art. Loo, for instance, proudly announced to

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. the publication of the Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient and

Genuine Chinese Paintings, “The book is the best that was ever published on the Chinese

paintings, so were the paintings described, they were collected and compiled by our

Manager of our Shanghai house.” 255 This catalogue was impressive in its appearance and

content. The large-size catalogue used brocade for its cover and high-quality glossy paper

for the text and illustrations. It included black-and-white photographic reproductions for

256
most paintings and a few colored illustrations. Compiled by the Chinese painting

expert, F.S. Kwen, every entry contains a detailed bilingual description of the painting, as

well as information about its attribution, dating, and provenance. Being a privately

printed and limited edition, this catalogue itself was a rarity. In the 1920s, Loo employed

the internationally renowned Sinologist Paul Pelliot to compile two catalogues: Bronzes

antiques de la Chine appartenant à C. T. Loo et cie (Tch’ou Tö-yi and Pelliot 1924) and

Jades Archaiques de Chine: apartenant à M.C. T. Loo (Pelliot 1925). In the 1930s and

1940s, the prominent scholar Alfred Salmony was responsible for three catalogues: Sino-

Siberian Art in the Collection of C. T. Loo (Salmony 1933), An Exhibition of Ancient

Chinese Ritual Bronzes (C. T. Loo & Company, 1940b), and An Exhibition of Chinese

(Lawton 1995). The dealer Joseph Duveen was also known as a publisher and patron for
leading scholars, including Bernard Berenson.
255
C. T. Loo to JDR Jr. October 21, 1916, folder 1370, C. T. Loo 1916-1949, box 137,
OMR-RAC.
256 According to the catalogue, some paintings’ condition made it impossible to make
presentable photographs.