Page 83 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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shown in “The Forum of Decorative Arts”, an advertisement section in the March 1937

issue of Art News. The advertisement contains images of four bronze vessels in the

collection of C. T. Loo, Yamanaka, Bluett and Sons, and John Sparks respectively (Fig.

24). 147 In addition to advertising their business together, dealers participated in the same

148
exhibition. C. T. Loo and a galaxy of other dealers, for example, contributed to the

1929 loan exhibition of Chinese art at the Detroit Institute of Arts (March 1929b, 9). The

joint presence of Chinese art dealers played a significant role in increasing the visibility

of Chinese art and shaping the taste of Chinese art in America.

Dealers also collaborated through the exchange of their merchandise. Though C. T.

Loo and many dealers often advertised their merchandise as being direct imported from

China, it was common that objects circulated among dealers before they were sold to

collectors or museums. During the 1930s and 1940s, C. T. Loo traded objects with many

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major dealers in Chinese art. The inlaid and jeweled bronze incense burner that Loo
sold to the Freer Gallery (FGA 47.15), for instance, was from the dealer J.T. Tai’s

150
collection. Yamanaka & Co. obtained the famous Lohan statue (MFA 15.255) from C.

T. Loo (Fig. 25). 151 In some cases, Loo bought back objects that he had previously sold to

other dealers. In the transaction of a stone relief from the French dealer Charles Vignier,

Charles L. Freer received a refund of $350 from Loo’s establishment, Laiyuan & Co.

147
“The Forum of Decorative Arts,” Art News, March 27, 1937.
148 Contributing dealers included Parish-Watson and Company, Duveen Brothers,
Yamanaka and Company, Otto Burchard and Company, Ralph M. Chait, A. W. Bahr,
Tonying and Company, E. Edward Wells, P. Jackson Higgs. Edgar Worch, Berlin.
149
Tonying & Co, Yamanaka & Co., Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Bahr, Parish Watson,
Seligman, Sotheby’s, London, Farmer Inc, and Sparks, London.
150 Negative 11-cnmb 467-472, FCA
151 For details of this transaction, see pp.87-8.