Page 89 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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unfortunate complication for a Museum with so little money to spend as we have. These

facts do not, however, diminish my interest in your slabs, though they do somewhat

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increase my anxiety to know the prices you may determine to ask.”

In the dealers’ world, knowledge about market conditions was commodity. In the small

Chinese art community, one dealer’s activities often affected the entire market. It was,

therefore, crucial for Loo to guard his business secrets and at the same time gather

information about his rivals’ maneuvers. The negotiation around a porcelain vase

between Loo and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1918 offers a case in point. Questioning the

authenticity of the vase that Loo offered, Rockefeller intended to seek advice from other

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dealers. In response, Loo expressed his preference for not having it shown to other

dealers because its marketability would be reduced. Loo wrote, “I have no objection to

having the vase submitted to any experts you wish, but the only thing is, whenever a

dealer knows this vase has been offered to a collector they will lose their interest in

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securing it for themselves...” Loo was familiar with other dealer’s activities. In 1946

Loo, for example, declined the proposal to exchange his claire de lune water receptacle

for the MFA’s peach bloom writer’s water pot on the basis that the shape of the latter was

rather common and its value was very low. He used Yamanaka’s business as an example,

“…. I remember Yamanaka had once bought a whole lot of about 20-30 of this type and

168 J.E. Lodge to C. T. Loo, August 13, 1919, folder: Lai-Yuan Co., box: Unofficial
Correspondence L, 1910-1922, AAOA-MFA.
169
JDR Jr. to C. T. Loo, December 23, 1918, folder 1370, C. T. Loo 1916-1949, box 137,
OMR-RAC.
170 C. T. Loo to JDR Jr., Dec. 24, 1918, folder 1370, C. T. Loo 1916-1949, box 137,
OMR-RAC.