Page 57 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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Research

Research was a crucial component of Loo’s business not only because many objects

came into Loo’s hand without information about their provenance, place of origin, or age,

but also because research conducted by eminent scholars would increase the objects’

value and prestige. Research materials also served as a clearinghouse for Loo’s

promotional and selling activities. Loo was aware of the critically important role of

scholarly research in promoting the categories that were new to the American audience,

such as ancient jades and bronzes. Loo, for example, gathered an all-star international

research team to prepare the 1940 catalogue, An Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ritual

Bronzes. Alfred Salmony, a prominent scholar of Chinese art, was responsible for the

description. James M. Menzies, a specialist in the oracle bone, revised the translation of

the inscription. J. E. Lodge, and J. A. Pope, curators at the FGA, and Chang Nai-chi, a

Chinese collector-connoisseur, contributed to the reading and translation of the

inscriptions on some objects. The research materials created around the late 1930s and

the early 1940s for a group of ancient bronzes demonstrate the thoroughness of Loo’s

research work. The research folder for the wine vessel yu contains description of its form

and symbolism, a transcript and translation of the inscription, as well as information

about its age, historical relevance, provenance, comparative piece, and references to

75
scholarship both Chinese and Western, ancient and current.

W./Newbery/Stookwell Terrace/SWS/No. 49354/H. 28 ½/Width of mouth 13 ½
(sq?)/Width of vase 13 ¾.”
75 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