Page 149 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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contextual and formal approaches in his dealing in ancient bronzes. In the folder, two

types of materials complemented each other. The first type of materials focused on the

vessel’s shape, decorative motif, symbolism. It included references to the scholarship of

the leading Western experts, including Alan Priest, Bernhard Karlgren, Alfred Salmony,

W.P. Yetts. There was not much information about its dating because the author noted

that the decoration on the vessel did not fit into the typological system that Karlgren

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created. The second kind of materials exemplified Chinese methods, which

emphasized the importance of inscription, historical relevance, and native literature. Each

character in the inscriptions was transcribed and translated into modern Chinese and

English (Fig. 46). The English translation of the entire inscription was annotated to

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illustrate its historical relevance, dating, and references. Based on the inscription, the
vessel was dated to the reign of Zhou wu wang, the King of Wu in the Zhou dynasty

(1134-1120 BCE) (Fig. 47). The provenance of the vessel was traced based on native

evidence such as the record in Xi qing gu jian, and two collector seals on the rubbing

included in Lo Zhengyu’s publication San dai ji jin wen cun. 312 The materials inferred

that the vessel passed from the imperial collection to the famous Chinese antiquarian Pan

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The bronze vessel was inventoried in May 1939, and left by C. T. Loo on approval at
A. Pillsbury in November 1939, and sold to him in May 1940 for $3,000 (Inventory card
86420, FCA; Yellow folder, 86420, the second drawer (without label) from the top on the
far right, FCA).
310 Bernhard Karlgren,“Yin and Chou in Chinese Bronzes,” Bulletin of the Museum of
Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 8 (1936): 9-154.
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In the 1930s and 1940s, the inscription on ancient assumed an added meaning because
of the rising nationalism in China. See Chapter Four, pp.164-5.
312 A letter from an unidentified person to C. T. Loo, December 20, 1939, FCA.