Page 72 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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me refund you the expense.” Sometimes, he asked his client to ship the object directly

to his next prospective buyer.

Loo’s firm also handled international shipping. Take the Buddhist stele (MFA 23.120),

for example. It was shipped out from Havre, France on November 7, 1922 on the Steamer

Rochambeau. Loo expected the stone to reach Boston sometime around November 20.

On November 19, 1922, Loo informed Lodge that the stele had arrived but was still in the

customs and would take one or two days before it would be shipped to Boston. The stele

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was then delivered to Boston per express, which took about two or three days.

Loo would have insurance placed on an object when it was shipped due to the high risk

involved in the transportation of valuable and often fragile antiquities. The accident that

happened in the transaction of the bronze vessel gui between Loo and the MFA well

illustrates some of the issues in packing, shipping and insurance. In March 1941, Loo

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offered and delivered a bronze vessel to the museum for $10,000. In May 1941, unable
to acquire it, the curator Tomita informed Loo that he had it returned by Railway Express

prepaid. A few days later, Tomita received Loo’s report about the damage of the bronze,

“Have just unpacked bronze which has a great hole with fifteen to twenty pieces

impossible to repair the breakage caused by your museum mistake in shipping such a

112 C. T. Loo to J.E. Lodge, March 26, 1919, folder: Lai-Yuan Co., box: Unofficial
Correspondence L, 1910-1922, AAOA-MFA.
113 C. T. Loo to J.E. Lodge, November 7, 19, Sunday (from the context, Sunday may
indicate November 26, 1922), November, 1922, folder: Lai-Yuan Co., box: Unofficial
Correspondence L, 1910-1922, AAOA-MFA.
114 C. T. Loo to the MFA, March 3, 1941; Tomita to C. T. Loo, May 13, 1941, folder C.
T. Loo, box: I to L, 1936-1947, AAOA-MFA.