Page 50 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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Museum, was bought by Loo in the Benson Sale in 1924 in London. Loo also acquired

objects from local sources in America, including auctions, dealers, collectors, and

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museums. Loo, for example, paid $1,350 for a Sung T’zu Chou (Cizhou) gallipot at the

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1942 sale of Mrs. Christian R. Holmes at the Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. in New York.
It is important to note that some objects, even before they came into Loo’s hands, had

already had a complicated life history in and out China. The journey of the painted tiles

(MFA 25. 10-13, 25.190 ) in the MFA collection offers a good example (Fig. 12).

According to Loo, before he sold the tiles to the MFA in 1925, Mr. Kwen already

brought them to the U.S. in 1918 and offered them to Mrs. E. Meyer. Unable to sell, they

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were sent back to China. Loo then acquired them in China and shipped them to Paris.

Substantial financial resources, high-powered connections, and marvelous

opportunities placed Loo in a unique position to channel a vast amount of first-class

Chinese antiquities into the United States. There are good reasons why Charles L. Freer,

the tycoon collector-connoisseur, complimented Loo by stating that American needed

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him.

44 Loo stated in the letter to the RISD director L.E. Rowe that it was acquired two years
ago (1923) in the Benson Sale (C. T. Loo to L.E. Rowe, February, 11, 1925, folder, C. T.
Loo & Co.1920-1944, RISDA). According to the New York Times, this sale was
conducted in 1924 (New York Times, July 2, 1924).
45 Loo’s contact with American dealers, collectors and museums is discussed in detail in
Chapter Two.
46
New York Times, April 15, 1942.
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Mr. Kwen probably refers to Loo’s partner F.S. Kwen. C. T. Loo to J.E. Lodge,
October 27, 1924, folder and box unknown, AAOA-MFA.
48 C. T. Loo to C.L. Freer, June 12, 1916, CLFP-FGA.