Page 47 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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came from the prestigious Qing antiquarian and official Tuan Fang (Duanfang)’s

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collection, which was dispersed after he was beheaded in a riot (Fig.6).
The strong demand of the art market and loose government control also encouraged

rampant plundering of Buddhist monuments and archaeological sites in China. Many

stone sculptures were truncated and removed in a rather deplorable way. In the

photograph, the stone lion (MFA 40.70) that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston acquired

from Loo was shown in situ in the cave temple in Longmen before it was chiseled out of

the rock face (Fig.7a, b). The monumental mural (Met 1965, 65.29.2) at the Metropolitan

Museum of Art were cut into over thirty pieces before they were packed into crates for

shipping (Fig.8 a,b,c). It has been noted that after taking things available above the

ground, looters turned to the underground. An article in the Parnassus commented on the

two funerary relief panels (MFA 37.248, 37.249 ) on display in Loo’s 1936 exhibition,

“Many tomb slabs have appeared on the market in the last few years. It would almost

seem as if those who collect the sculpture in China, having stripped most of the

countryside bare, had now to look into the ground for something with which to fill the

market.” (Roberts 1936, 21-22) (Fig.9) The first five decades of the twentieth century

witnessed a parade of archaeological findings in China. Many ancient bronzes and jades

for which Loo was best known were reportedly excavations. It is not surprising that Loo

37 The major part of the bronze altar was acquired in 1920s and the rest in 1940s. The
major part (MFA 22.407) was acquired through C. T. Loo. The dealership in transaction
of the other part (MFA 47.1407-1412) was unclear. According to Lawton, the altar piece
was offered by Adolph Worch to Freer for $80,000 before MFA acquired it through Loo
(Lawton 1991, 89-90).