Page 178 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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promotion of his collection. Loo’s dealing in ceramics offers a case in point. Loo noted

that ceramics was a field in which a long and continuous line of objects could be

assembled, displayed, and exchanged. He remarked, “…the ceramic ware has had an

uninterrupted development of over 2000 years” (Loo 1940, Preface). In 1933, Loo

donated to the RISD a Neolithic jar reportedly from the Anderson finds dated 3000-1500

BCE (RISD 33.003). 371 Loo’s act was a market gambit, which turned the jar into a starter

for a line of future sales. In the letter to the RISD director Earle Rowe, Loo encouraged

him to form a “…chronological collection of Chinese pottery starting from this vase to

372
the Ming period.” A few months later, Loo wrote to Rowe to offer a few pieces as

additions to the chronological collection that Loo envisioned for the museum, “I hope

that the Neolithic jar will be on view soon and as I suggested I hope you will allow me to

select a little collection of potteries from Chow to VI Dyn. which is lacking in all

Museums but to my personal opinion it is very important to have a chronological

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collection for the education of the students.”

Loo’s chronological organization and display was also intended to convey a sense of

comprehensiveness, continuity, progress, and authority. Loo paid great attention to the

issue of dating, which historicized an object, emphasized its age and rarity, and

371 C. T. Loo to E. L. Rowe, November 18, 1932, C. T. Loo & Co. folder 1920-1944,
RISDA. B. J. Gunnar Anderson, Swedish mining consultant to the Chinese government
was known for a series of important archaeological discoveries in the 1920s. Anderson
finds include the 1920 discovery of a Stone Age site near Yang-shao-tsun, the 1922
discovery of the Painted Pottery site at the cave of Sha-kuo-tun in Liaoning, and the
1923-4 discovery of painted pottery culture sites in Gansu.
372
C. T. Loo to E. Rowe, November 23, 1932, C. T. Loo & Co. folder 1920-1944,
RISDA.
373 C. T. Loo to E. Rowe, February. 16, 1933, C. T. Loo & Co. folder 1920-1944,
RISDA.