Page 89 - important chinese art mar 22 2018

Fig. 2 Gustav Detring (1842-1913)
Fig. 3 Constantin von Hanneken (1854-1925)
ྡɚ ᅃᆪ೙ (1842-1913)
ྡɧ ဏॶ࣬ (1854-1925)

hardly " nd a stage of public life in our present society which Cixi and to the Guangxu emperor. Certain works from the
has not been associated with the great and valuable contribu- collection were likely personally gifted to them by the Qing
tion made by Detring.” court (such as the rock crystal seal belonging to the Dowager
Empress Cixi, lot 551), but collecting may well have also been
Born in Trier on the Rhine, and described by his family as a a means of decorating their palatial Tianjin homes ( g. 5).
‘patriot of China’, Constantin von Hanneken ( g. 3) had served
Furthermore, both men moved in the same professional and
as a Captain in the Prussian Field Artillery before being hired
social circles in China as some of the most legendary Chinese
as one of Detring’s military advisors. He moved to China in
art collectors of the time, including Alfred E. Hippisley (1848-
1879 to take up the position and quickly established himself as 1939), Commissioner of the Maritime Customs between 1876
a close friend and advisor to Li Hongzhang, whom he worked
and 1884, who formed one of the greatest collection of the
for until 1887. Li put von Hanneken in charge of reorganiz-
Qing dynasty porcelain; Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), a mining
ing and modernizing the Chinese army and in designing and
engineer who worked at the Kaiping Mining operation, later
building several naval forts including, most signi" cantly, Port becoming the 31st President of the United States, who col-
Arthur (Lüshun gang). Von Hanneken was highly decorated
lected Chinese blue and white porcelain; and von Hanneken’s
for having established Port Arthur in 1881, eventually rising to
brother-in-law Ernst Ohlmer (1847-1927), a maritime customs
the rank of Chinese general, and later tasked with the forti" ca-
o* cer better known for providing one of the earliest photo-
tion of Talienwan and Weihaiwei. During the Sino-Japanese graphic records of the remains of the Yuanmingyuan in 1872,
war, in November 1894, the Guangxu emperor issued a decree
and whose extensive collection of Chinese porcelain is today
making von Hanneken commander in chief of China’s armies
housed in the Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim.
with ‘ample funds and power’, in the hope that a Western
general could defeat the Japanese army. Under pressure Constantin von Hanneken returned brie! y to Germany in 1895,
from xenophobic factions within the court, the plan was later bringing a large quantity of porcelain from his collection back
reversed, eventually leading to the capturing of Port Arthur and with him for safekeeping. In 1899, approximately 160 pieces
Weihaiwei. Together Detring and von Hanneken also oversaw from his collection (including lots 549 and 550) were loaned
the vast British controlled Kaiping Mining Company, which to the Roemer Museum in Hildesheim. In 1919, the family left
was the " rst successful large-scale e% ort to introduce Western Tianjin for good, settling " rst in Hannover but, against the back-
technology and methods into industrial production in China. drop of the post-war economic depression in Germany, some
Von Hanneken married Detring’s eldest daughter, Elsa, in 1895, of the family emigrated to the United States in the 1920s and
thereby uniting these two prominent families. 1930s. Parts of the collection remained in Germany through
through the " rst half of the 20th century, and a small number
Whilst Detring and von Hanneken’s professional endeavours in
of works (including the large Chuxiugong charger,
China are well documented, their collecting activities are less
lot 547) were lent to the groundbreaking ‘Ausstellung Chinesischer
known. Collecting Chinese art appears to have been something
Kunst’ exhibition in Berlin in 1929, before also making their
for a hobby for both men—no doubt facilitated through their
journey to America in the 1950s where they have remained with
close working relationships with Li Hongzhang as well as their
Detring and von Hanneken’s descendants to this day.
access to the Qing court, including to the Dowager Empress
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 87