Page 31 - Christie's Irving Collection Lacquer Bronse jade and Ink March 2019
P. 31

“  In every collector there is a wish to own and a wish to share
                                  that are not necessarily incompatible. We wanted to share our

                                  collection with the greatest number of people, and for that,
                                  there’s no place like the Met.”



                                   FLORENCE IRVING








                                  A DIALOGUE WITH ASIAN ART                    It was Boney who sold the Irvings their frst substantive
                                  The success of the Sysco Corporation allowed the   work of Asian art: a Chinese jade head rest, timelessly
                                  Irvings to adopt a spirited ethos of living, one founded   elegant in its form, that appealed to Mr. Irving “simply
                                  upon the principles of helping others and embracing fne   because,” he said, “I liked the feel of the stone.” Works
                                  art. For the Irvings, it was not enough to live surrounded   of fne sculptural quality would come to feature
                                  by beauty; they felt obligated to share it with the world.   prominently in the Irvings’ collection, underscoring their
                                  Asian art, in particular, would become synonymous   afinity for works that could be handled and appreciated
                                  with the Irving name, as the couple came to amass one   each day. “I love sculpture,” Mr. Irving explained. “That’s
                                  of the United States’ foremost private collections of   why the frst Oriental art we bought was jade, because
                                  Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian works.   it was sculpture. Alice Boney understood that and
                                  From childhood days at the Brooklyn Museum to seeing   fostered that.” Boney’s reputation as one of the world’s
                                  their own names inscribed on the Asian art wing of the   foremost Asian art dealers was based on her uncanny
                                  Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Irvings’ passion for art   ability to connect clients with works they truly loved. In
                                  was a truly lifelong commitment.             this way, she developed a close personal relationship
                                                                               with the Irvings while helping them build their
                                  The Irvings made their initial foray into collecting in   collection. After Boney relocated her gallery from Tokyo
                                  the 1940s and 1950s. The glassware Herbert Irving   to Manhattan, the couple were able to see the dealer
                                  acquired during the Second World War was joined by   almost every week. “We would battle like crazy, but
                                  additional glass pieces and “reasonably priced” works   never seriously,” Mr. Irving laughed, “because we loved
                                  by living artists. An eighteenth-century Chinese table,   one another and everything she said came true.”
                                  purchased in the early 1960s from the notable dealer
                                  Robert Ellsworth, was a harbinger of greater things. Yet   From their frst acquisition in Tokyo, the Irvings
                                  the Irvings were initially, they later admitted, complete   wholeheartedly embraced Asian art. Mrs. Irving began
                                  novices in Asian art and its history. Indeed, it was not   to study the history of Chinese art, ceramics, and
                                  until the autumn of 1967 that they discovered the   furniture at Columbia University, and attended lectures
                                  possibilities of Asian art, when Mrs. Irving suggested a   at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through annual
                                  trip to Japan, and a friend encouraged the couple to visit   visits to Asia and in conversation with Boney, Ellsworth,
                                  the esteemed Alice Boney in Tokyo. “We ate lunch,” Mr.   and other dealers around the world, the Irvings honed
                                  Irving said of the visit, “and fell in love.” The couple were   their unique connoisseurial vision—one greatly aided
                                  immediately drawn to Boney’s gift for illuminating the   by Mrs. Irving’s astute eye and enthusiastic scholarship.
                                  beauty of Asian art, and spent the majority of their trip   “They are always learning,” curator Amy Poster said of
                                  with the dealer. “She was like a mother,” Mr. Irving said.   the couple in 1991. “Florence never forgets the objects
                                  “She really introduced us to Oriental art.”  she’s seen…. The ability to act on what she has learned











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