Page 144 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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years; but they are very hard to get”. 297 Freer’s interest in Chinese connoisseurship was

indicated by his purchase of these Chinese catalogues through Loo after viewing the 1916

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painting catalogue.

The playing on Chineseness in this catalogue was also indicated by its content. Each

entry included the descriptive text in Chinese (after the English text), information about

the artists, inscriptions, seals, provenances, as well as reference to historical events and

Chinese painting literature. The catalogue’s stress on Chineseness was well illustrated by

its treatment of the inscription. In China connoisseurs placed a high value on inscriptions,

which often contain observations on painting techniques, and important historical,

biographical, and provenance information. It has been observed that Chinese

“…frequently value the inscriptions on a painting as highly, or even more highly, than

they do the painting itself… Inscriptions not only testify to authenticity of a painting, but

also are rare examples of the calligraphy of famous scholars-many of the commentators

being as well noted painters and connoisseur of art” (Hackney and Yau 1940, xi).

In Loo’s 1916 catalogue, the descriptive text for the Five Old Men of Sui-yang attached

a great importance to the inscription. One third of the text discussed the inscription,

which contained a wealth of information about the album’s circulation and reception

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history as well as its significance. The figures were identified by the inscription as five

high officials in the Northern Song dynasty. Figures like Du Yan, Bi Shichang, and Zhu

297 F.S. Kwen to C.L Freer, October 6, 1916, CLFP-FGA.
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C.L. Freer to C. T. Loo, November 11, 1916, CLFP-FGA.
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Information in the inscription also shows the album’s importance as the object for
ancestral worship. This set of paintings was kept in the Bi Shichang’s descendants in the
Song dynasty and later Zhu Guan’s descendents in the Yuan and Ming dynasties.