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Collecting Chinese Jade in America’s Gilded Age

Jenny F. So

The flourishing of trade between Western Europe and Asia since York collectors. Yamanaka opened his first shop there in 1894, and
the 17th century shaped Western knowledge of China. Well into the maintained a strong presence in America until his death. C. T. Loo
19th century, consumer luxuries – China’s “china” and exquisite silks started his business (Ton-Ying Company) in Paris in 1902, opening
–have been the most coveted items. To most Westerners, Chinese a New York branch in 1915, the same year that the Far Eastern Art
jade referred to the brilliant green stone (“jadeite,” in mineralogy) Department was established at the Met. As fellow New Yorkers and
known since the 18th century in China, and used only for jewelry close contemporaries with similar resources, the collectors’ paths
and snuff bottles of the socially affluent. It is not surprising then, that likely crossed in dealers’ shops, elite New York clubs, and major
the Chinese jade (“nephrite”) like those offered here, with a much arts and cultural institutions like the Met. Peters and Freer were
longer history in China, characterized by their muted hues and both lenders to the Met’s first Chinese art exhibition in 1916; they
subtler designs, did not command the same regard as collectors’ all knew Chicago’s Berthold Laufer, either through his 1912 seminal
items as porcelains, or paintings and calligraphy, and have been less publication Jade: A Study in Chinese Archaeology & Religion, or in
enthusiastically recorded or studied. person as the preeminent jade scholar of the time.

By the end of the 19th century, America had developed into a major The Peters’ and Bishop’s gifts to the Met provide different
economic and political power to rival Western Europe and Britain. perspectives on America’s early understanding of jade. Bishop’s
Elite groups of industrial and financial magnates amassed huge jades had a more immediate visual quality, easy on eyes long-trained
fortunes that enabled them to fill their luxurious mansions with art in the equally intricate and colorful designs of 17th–19th century
and exotica, giving rise to the lavish lifestyles that epitomized the porcelains. The monumental catalogue of his bequest, published in
Gilded Age. Armed with unprecedented wealth, they were driven by a 1906, revealed his fascination with the science of jade’s mineralogical
desire to transform America – especially their hometown New York – properties, the special techniques and tools developed to shape
into an international art and cultural hub replacing London and Paris. them, and its under-appreciated global presence.
The man behind the Chinese jades in the current group, Samuel T. Peters’ choices evoked the modest tastes of the Chinese
Peters (b. 1854) grew up in this Gilded Age, made his fortune in coal, antiquarian-connoisseurs of the 19th century, with a focus on
and was a life-long resident of New York (pp. 210-211 in this catalog). personal ornaments and mythological shapes and animals. Their
Very little is known about his collecting activities, except that he was well-worn and warmly colored surfaces supported then accepted
a loyal patron of Yamanaka Sadajiro in New York. Between 1911 and attributions to the archaic “Zhou” or “Han” eras, notions that
1916, he presented his collection of almost 400 Chinese jades and reinforced their owners’ desires to connect with an elusive past
Korean ceramics to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. revered by traditional Chinese scholarship. Freer also seemed to have
been comforted by jade’s mystical powers, acquiring the bulk of them
Peters was not alone in his passion for this exotic stone. Heber R. after he was ill and house-bound. Drummond, however, signaled that
Bishop (b. 1840), a Massachusetts native and fourteen years older his regard for jade was primarily scientific, as a mineralogical marvel
than Peters, also possessed a special appreciation for Chinese rather than an aesthetic, religious, or exotic material, by bequeathing
jades. In 1873, the young Bishop sold his lucrative sugar business his collection to the American Museum of Natural History.
in Cuba and returned to New York, where he made his fortune
investing in banks, iron, steel, and mining. By 1902, he had amassed By the 1930s, when Grenville L. Winthrop (b. 1864), Ernest B. Dane
a collection of over 1000 Chinese, Indian, and jades from cultures (b.1868), and Edward B. Sonnenschein (b. 1881) started collecting
around the world, which he bequeathed to the Met where a selection jades, new “archaeological” and “imperial” jades — by-products of
remains on view today. China’s turbulent political and economic developments after the fall
of the Qing dynasty in 1911— had become the ultimate prize for jade
Another collector, Isaac W. Drummond (b. 1855), also from collectors. A new era in America’s knowledge of jade was born, only
Massachusetts, ran a paint business in New York. His collection of to be expanded in the 1970s when controlled excavations revealed
Chinese jades entered the American Museum of Natural History after the multi-faceted cultural and religious history of Chinese jades.
his death in 1933. Charles L. Freer (b. 1856) was a New Yorker and
accountant who made his fortune in railway construction in Detroit. References:
Although he bought his first jade only in 1907, two years after he Heber R. Bishop, Stephen W. Bushell, Tadamasa Hayashi, George F.
offered his collection to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, Kunz, Robert Lilley. The Bishop collection: investigations and studies
D.C., Freer nevertheless built an impressive collection of Chinese in jade. New York: De Vinne Press, 1906.
jades by the time of his death in 1919. Thomas Lawton, Linda Merrill. Freer: A Legacy of Art. Washington,
D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1993.
Dealers like Yamanaka Sadajiro (1866-1936) and C.T. Loo (1880- Jenny F. So. Early Chinese Jades in the Harvard Art Museums.
1957) were instrumental in encouraging the interests of these New Cambridge, MA: Harvard Art Museums, 2019.

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