Page 17 - 2019 September 12th Christie's New York Chiense Art Masterpieces of Chinese Gold and Silver

It appears that Carl Kempe’s interest in Chinese art began in the 1920s, and 1930-31 he was one
of the private members of the Karlbeck Syndicate (see lists of syndicate members compiled by
Valérie Jurgens in The Karlbeck Syndicate 1930-1934: collecting and scholarship on Chinese art in
Sweden and Britain, PhD thesis, SOAS, London 2010, https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/13095). This was
a syndicate initiated by the Swedish civil engineer Orvar Karlbeck (1879-1967), who worked on the
construction of railways in China for some twenty years. While there, Karlbeck amassed a signifcant
collection of early Chinese bronzes, which he sold to the then Crown Prince of Sweden (1882-1973,
later HM King Gustav VI Adolf, r. 1950-1973), when the latter visited China in 1926. In 1930 Karlbeck
established a syndicate to purchase Chinese art objects on behalf of a consortium of museums and
private collectors in Europe – primarily Sweden and Britain.
There were three Karlbeck Syndicates: one in 1930-31, one in 1931-32, and the last in 1934. The
1930-31 syndicate, in which Carl Kempe participated, included, among others, the Museum of Far
Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm; the Röhsska Konstslöjdmuseet (Röhsska Museum of Design and
Applied Arts), Göteborg; and the Hallwyl Collection, Stockholm. It is interesting that the Hallwyl
Collection was included in the syndicate, since this was a collection amassed by one of Carl Kempe’s

十載。旅華期間，他庋藏了一批可觀的中國早期青 遠東古物博物館、哥特堡的勒斯卡設計與應用藝
(above)
銅器，其後出讓予1926年訪華的瑞典王儲 (即登基 術博物館，以及斯德哥爾摩的霍氏珍藏 (Hallwyl
Photograph taken
around the time of 後的HM King Gustav VI Adolf，1950-1973年在 Collection)。霍氏珍藏的出現頗引人入勝，因為
the opening of the
1935-1936 International 位，生卒年為1882-1973年)。柯氏於1930年成立 背後的藏家同樣是凱波家族的成員。霍維娜女伯爵
Exhibition of Chinese
Art, London. Shown are 財團，旨在集資購藏中國藝術品，其成員是歐洲 (以 (Countess Wilhelmina von Hallwyl，1844-1930
Carl Kempe (center), Sir 瑞典和英國為主) 的博物館及私人藏家。 年) 是老凱波 (Johan Christoffer Carl
Percival David (far left),
His Royal Highness the 財團共分三期，其營運期分別為1930-31 Kempe，1799-1872年) 之弟威廉 (Wilhelm
Crown Prince of Sweden
(third from right) and 年、1931-32年及1934年。凱波參與的是1930-31 Kempe，1807-1883年) 的女兒。她繼承了父親的
Oscar Raphael 大筆遺產，所以雖於1864年與霍華德伯爵 (Count
(far right). 年的基金會，同期的成員還包括瑞典斯德哥爾摩
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