Page 12 - Avery Brundage Ancient Bronzes and Collecting Biography

further observed, “It would be difficult to deceive him [Brundage] now in the field of
Chinese bronzes. He has evolved a study score sheet which covers the ground so thor-
oughly that only a bronze of undoubted authenticity and artistic merit can survive the
ordeal.” 35
In 1959, when the renowned art historian and museum director Laurence Sickman
(1907–1988) was asked to evaluate Brundage’s Chinese collection, he remarked, “The
collections of ancient bronzes, ceramics and jades are of the very highest order. . . . The
Brundage collection of Chinese bronzes is certainly one of the most comprehensive
ever assembled. Due to an unusual set of circumstances, bronze sacrificial vessels and
figure 8.12. Guang. Late Shang period,
12th century bce. Bronze, height 9 in. (22.9 other objects of the archaic period were on the market in considerable quantities in the
cm). Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art 1930’s and early 40’s. These conditions made it possible to assemble a collection of such
Museum of San Francisco, B60B1032. magnitude.” 36

212 Jay Xu