Page 23 - Saturday At Sothebys Chinese Art

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION

OF COMMANDER THEODORE W. JOYCE

LOTS 1338-1346

Theodore W. Joyce was born in 1902 in Portland, attacked on December 7, 1941. Joyce channeled
Oregon. Imbued with an early respect for and his formidable skills into the war effort, helping
curiosity of the East, he started sailing the west to break Japanese code, providing significant
coast at age sixteen and was soon headed to intelligence that proved critical in the battles
Australia and New Zealand, eking out a living of the Coral Sea and Midway. Joyce was then
through trade. He then joined the U.S. Merchant sent back to China, within Japanese occupied
Marines, sailing between Portland and Shanghai. territory, and assigned to build and command an
Joyce was captivated by China and, enthralled by intercepting post near Kunming where significant Commander Theodore W. Joyce
its history and culture, he studied the language, intelligence was gathered to the benefit of both
becoming proficient in Mandarin. the allies and the Chinese.
The 1930s were years of intense activity for Following the end of World War II, Joyce
Joyce. As a United States serviceman, an ally of returned to Washington D.C. as Intelligence
the Kuomintang, and an officer in the Chinese Officer to the Chief Naval Officer reporting
Maritime Customs Services, not only did his duties regularly to President Harry S. Truman.
extend to capturing pirates off the coast, but at Joyce briefly returned to Shanghai as a Naval
great personal risk, he took on the dangerous role Intelligence Officer during the Chinese Civil War,
of spy, gathering intelligence from the Japanese in but was back in Washington D. C. in 1949. He later
order to assist the Chinese. worked with NATO in Iceland and Oslo, Norway,
where he met his future wife, Helga Haugen. In
With war between the United States and Japan
imminent, Joyce was stationed at Pearl Harbor, 1960, he retired to Portland, Oregon, where he
lived with Helga. He died in 1996, one day short of
Hawaii, and was there when the Japanese
his 94th birthday. Detail lot 1339

1338 1339

AN INSCRIBED BAITONG THREE- AN INSCRIBED BRONZE SQUARE For a nearly identical tray see the example in
TIER SQUARE CENSER AND COVER TRAY the British Museum, acc. no. 1943,0215.4.
EARLY 20TH CENTURY 19TH / 20TH CENTURY $ 2,000-3,000
comprising three boxes, an interior latticework cast with a poetic inscription and an apocryphal 十九 / 二十世紀 銅御製詩文如意足四方
tray, a small shovel, a square-section tamper, a Xuande date 倭角盤
rake for ashes and a double layered openwork Width 5½ in., 14 cm
cover, the exterior chased with archaistic 《宣德七年正月十五日》仿款
inscriptions and forms, the base inscribed with PROVENANCE
seal mark of Xue Zhichen of Jiaoxian, wood Acquired in China 1930s-40s,and thence by
stand (10) descent.
Height 7¼ in., 18.4 cm
PROVENANCE
Acquired in China 1930s-40s,and thence by
descent.
$ 2,000-3,000
二十世紀初 白銅鏨古籀三層熏爐
《膠縣志成薛志臣自造》款

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