Page 54 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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of the card records in detail the information about the circulation of the object, such as

prices, who handled the object, when and to whom it was offered.

Photography

The reproduction of the objects relied on photography. The Frank Caro Archive

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contains eight cases of negatives of the art objects that Loo handled. The number and

quality of the negatives in the archive leaves no doubt of the importance of photography

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to Loo’s business. Most negatives in the archive are candid black-and-white views of

the objects against a neutral background. Minor objects were often given group portraits.

For important objects, high-quality images were made. In the offer of a gilt bronze statue

of Guanyin to the MFA in 1921, Loo sent a color lithograph reproduction to the curator

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66
J.E. Lodge. In 1949 Loo had colored kodachrome made for a group of Song murals.
In the Frank Caro archive a small number of the photos were views of the object in

storage, or gallery or exhibition installation views. Negatives were organized mainly by

medium (e.g. bronze, jade, ceramics, sculpture, painting), period (e.g. ceramics from

Neolithic period to the Tang dynasty), type (e.g. bronzes), site (e.g. Buddhist sculpture

sites such as Tianlongshan and Yungang ), or clients (e.g. Freer, Met, Pillsbury).

Photographs were used not only for documentation, but also for research, publication,

and advertisement.

63 The statistics do not include glass plates.
64 Only a select group of objects were photographed due to the cost of photography in
Loo’s time.
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C. T. Loo to J.E. Lodge, February 4, 1921, folder: Lai-Yuan Co., box: Unofficial
Correspondence L, 1910-1922, AAOA-MFA.
66 C. T. Loo to G. Washburn, March 9, 1949, folder, C. T. Loo & Co.1920-1944, RISD.