Page 10 - Avery Brundage Ancient Bronzes and Collecting Biography
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figure 8.10. Jia. Late Shang period, 12th
century bce. Bronze, height 29⅝ in. (75.2
cm). Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art
Museum of San Francisco, B61B11+.
museums, sought out collectors with similar interests, and made connections with an
international network of reliable, respected dealers in Asian art. Simultaneously, he was
in constant communication with Asian art specialists in Europe and Japan, as well as in
the United States. He was widely known to reserve the right to return objects, even
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long after purchase. As James Cahill points out, his way of collecting probably did not
endear him to dealers, but they could not refuse to deal with a client who bought on
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such a large scale. This return policy perhaps helped Brundage to take the risk of pur-
chasing the rhinoceros.
210 Jay Xu
