Page 67 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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Less valuable objects like the bronze phoenix vessel (priced between $2,500-$4,000)

were sent to smaller or regional museums such as the City Museum of St. Louis and the

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Toledo Museum of Art, and less prominent collectors (Fig. 13 a,b). Size and medium of
the objects also mattered in Loo’s pairing. Large-scale, first-class stone sculptures were

often reserved for prestigious museums like the MFA, FGA, UMP, and Met. In 1922

Loo, for example, sent the MFA curator and the FGA director J.E. Lodge two sets of

photographs of the stone sculptures, including the Buddhist stele that the MFA acquired

later (MFA 23.120) (Fig. 14a). In his letter to Lodge, Loo expressed his opinion that they

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were appropriate for the MFA or the FGA. In contrast, smaller decorative objects like

the Ming and Qing porcelain vases and figures were sent to collectors like John. D.

Rockefeller, Jr., who collected them primarily to decorate his home and office.

The place where the transaction took place was also significant. Loo would conduct

business in the most favorable market. In 1924, Loo noticed that the changing exchange

rate had affected the international art market. Loo wrote to the RISD director E. L. Rowe,

“ I am here since about 3 weeks and have not been away, I may go to London very soon:

The business here is very good, majority of the buyers are foreigners, who are

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encouraged by the low exchange of the franc. It is noticeable that some objects were

shipped back and forth for sales or exhibitions between Europe and America. For

97 Inventory card 87062, FCA.
98 Inventory card 50045, FCA.
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C. T. Loo to J.E. Lodge, August 23, 1922, folder: Lai-Yuan Co., box: Unofficial
Correspondence L, 1910-1922, AAOA-MFA.
100 “Here” refers to Paris. C. T. Loo to E. Rowe, March 10, 1924, folder C. T. Loo & Co.,
1920-1944, RISDA.