Page 121 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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Museum (and by so doing gladden the hearts of several Directors whom we know) the

price is $35000.” 265

On the other hand, collectors like Rockefeller and Alfred Pillsbury relied on opinions

of scholars and curators in making their acquisition decisions. Collectors needed

publications and museum displays to immortalize them. In his dealing, Loo would use

scholars and curators to increase the prestige of his collections. Loo introduced the

renowned Swedish scholar Bernhart Karlgren to Pillsbury to catalogue his bronze

collection, which was largely formed by Loo (La Farge 1950, 58). When Rockefeller

questioned Loo’s dealership, Loo provided a long list of museums curators/scholars as

his referees.

“Dr. F.A. Whiting/Mr. J.A. MacLean Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio.

Mr. Bosch Reitz/ Mr. Hobbi Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.C.
Dr. G.B. Gordon, University Museum, Phila. Pa. to whom we sell every year several

very important objects.
Mr. John Lodge, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.

Dr. R.A. Holland , City Art Museum, St, Louis, Mo.
Mr. Paul Sachs, Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Mass….

Also Louvre in Paris whom I have dealt with for the past fifteen years, and the British

Museum in London.” 266

Referred by Loo as “Hobbi” in the letter above, Theodore Hobby, curator at the Met,

played a critical role in the formation of Rockefeller’s Chinese ceramic collection.

Rockefeller’s reliance on Hobby is indicated in his letter to Hobby, “Because I have

265
Marion Wheildon to JDR Jr., June 15, 1921, folder 1370, C. T. Loo 1916-1949, box
137, OMR-RAC.
266 C. T. Loo to JDR Jr., December 24, 1918, folder 1370, C. T. Loo 1916-1949, box 137,
OMR-RAC.