Page 158 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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knowledge of Chinese and Japanese art in the form of published works” (March 1929a,

10). March also noticed the scarcity of Asian art specialists in American museums. 331

Loo turned “Europeanness/Frenchness” into a selling point. He employed preeminent

scholars and museum professionals with European background, including Paul Pelliot,

Alfred Salmony, and Michael Rostovtzeff to research and catalogue his collections. In the

transaction of a pair of turquoise-colored porcelain parrots, Loo attempted to convince

John D. Rockefeller, Jr, that the French taste was what justified the price he quoted

($1,500). Loo wrote to Rockefeller, “ I am sure you have heard that during the Cecile

Sorel sale in Paris, there was a pair of turquoise parrots, not quite identical as to color,

which was sold for 106,000 francs, equal at that time to around $4,250. The French

people always collect turquoise, and especially birds. The No. 14, if it is a perfect pair,

even a little variants in color, would fetch today at $5000. So please do trust us that we

were not asking higher than it should be.” 332

Chineseness

Loo, a native from China, could be easily recognized as Chinese in the West. Heydt

noted that for some time Loo owned a Chinese restaurant on the left bank of the Seine.

Heydt amusingly mentioned, “He was, like all Chinese, a real connoisseur of food”

(Heydt 1957, 186). Loo’s firm was advertised as “Lai-Yuan & Co. of Shanghai and

333
Pekin”. Being Chinese, however, held both positive and negative implications for Loo.

331 March observed that “only 8 museums employ curators specifically devoted to
Oriental art” (March 1929a, 12-3).
332
C. T. Loo to JDR Jr, January 12, 1949, folder 106, C. T. Loo 1945-1951, box 11,
OMR-RAC.
333 American Art News, December 30, 1916.