Ritual grain server (gui) with square base and masks, dragons, and birds

Object Details

• Description

  Ceremonial vessel, type "kuei."

  Thin, scattered malachite and cuprite patination inside and out. Inscription of eleven characters inside.

• Inscriptions

  Inscription of eleven characters inside.

• Provenance

  From at least 1935

  Otto Burchard & Co., Berlin, from at least 1935 [1]

  1935

  Sale, Berlin, Paul Graupe, Die Bestände der Firma Dr. Otto Burchard & Co., Berlin, in Liquidation: Chinesische Kunst: I. Teil, March 22, 1935, lot 275, pl. 26 [2]

  From 1935 to probably 1937

  Hans Georg Oeder (died 1937), Priemern, Altmark, Germany, purchased on his behalf by Arthur Abt at Graupe's sale, March 22, 1935 [3]

  From 1937

  C. T. Loo & Company, Paris and New York from at least November 1937 [4]

  From 1938

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company, New York on December 29, 1938 [5]

  Notes:

  [1] See Paul Graupe, Berlin, Die Bestände der Firma Dr. Otto Burchard & Co., Berlin in Liquidation: Chinesische Kunst: I. Teil, sale cat. (Berlin: Paul Graupe, March 22-23, 1935), p. 39, lot 275, pl. 26.

  Dr. Otto Burchard & Co., a gallery devoted to Chinese art, was founded by Otto Burchard (1892-1965) in Berlin in 1927 as a part of the Margraf Concern, an art trade firm based in Berlin. In 1929, the Margraf Concern was acquired by Jakob and Rosa Oppenheimer.

  See Patrizia Jirka-Schmitz, "Otto Burchard (1892-1965), Von Finanz-Dada zum Grandseigneur des Pekinger Kunsthandels," Mitteilungen Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ostasiatische Kunst 12, 2 (July 1995), p. 28, note 24.

  [2] The sale was one of a series of three auctions during January through April 1935, in which the Margraf Concern, property of Jakob and Rosa Oppenheimer, was liquidated. See also Klaus Schrenk, "Das Gemälde 'Bildnis der Marchesa Veronica Spinola Doria' von Peter Paul Rubens und die Chronologie einer Rückforderung," in Beiträge öffentlicher Einrichtungen des Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum Umgang mit Kulturgütern aus ehemaligen jüdischen Besitz, ed. Ulf Häder (Magdeburg: Veröffentlichungen der Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste, 2001), pp. 150-59 and Esther Tisa Francini, Anja Heuss, and Georg Kreis, Flucht - Raubgut: Der Transfer von Kulturgütern in und über die Schweiz 1933-1945 und die Frage der Restitution (Zurich: Chronos, 2001), p. 42.

  For more information on the fate of Jakob and Rosa Oppenheimer see http://www.lostart.de/nn_41804/Webs/DE/Provenienz/JuedischeSammler/Eintrag,lv2=60580,lv3=63116.html.

  [3] According to Patrizia Jirka-Schmitz, "Otto Burchard (1892-1965), Von Finanz-Dada zum Grandseigneur des Pekinger Kunsthandels," Mitteilungen Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ostasiatische Kunst 12, 2 (July 1995), pp. 32-33.

  See also Bernhard Karlgren, "Yin and Chou in Chinese Bronzes," in Yin and Chou Researches (Stockholm: The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1935), p. 84, E40, pl. XII, where the vessel is listed as in "Oeder Collection."

  [4] See Loo's stockcard no. LAP 5901: "Bronze incense-burner on a square stand, 6th cent. B.C.," C. T. Loo & Frank Caro Archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy in object file. According to annotations on the stockcard, the vessel arrived in New York on the S.S. Normandie with Loo in November 1937 and was brought to the Freer Gallery for approval in December 1937.

  It appears on C. T. Loo's Approval List, dated December 2, 1937, listed under no. LAP 5901 as "Large bronze Yu with square base," copy in object file.

  [5] See C. T. Loo's invoice, issued by the New York gallery, dated December 29, 1938, copy in object file. The object is listed in the invoice as "Bronze sacral vessel of the type tui. Chinese, Chou."

  Loo stated at the time of the purchase that he had acquired the vessel in China, see John E. Lodge's curatorial remark, 1939, in object file.

  Lodge noted that Loo "said that he had got it [the vessel] in China and this could be true. In 1935, however, Karlgren published … an inscribed kuei belonging to Rittergutsbesitzer H. G. Oeder (of Priemern, Seehausen, Altmark, Germany) which, as nearly as I can tell from the reproduction, is almost certainly this one,--- my only serious doubt, indeed, arising from the negative evidence of Karlgren's failure to read the second character in the inscription."

  In July 2000, the Freer Gallery of Art received a claim asserting that the heirs of Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer were the rightful owners of the vessel. With the cooperation and assistance of the family, the Smithsonian researched the history of the vessel and discovered that it had been sold in the auction in Berlin in 1935.

  In November 2002, the Oppenheimer heirs and the Smithsonian Institution reached an agreement regarding the ownership of the vessel by which it remains in the museum collection.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Clay and Metal: Ancient Chinese Ceramics and Metal (February 25, 1997 to August 9, 2011)

  Chinese Art (February 18, 1983 to April 1, 1987)

  Chinese Art (June 15, 1982 to September 24, 1982)

  Chinese Art (March 15, 1982 to June 15, 1982)

  Chinese Art (March 9, 1981 to March 12, 1982)

  Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)

  Chinese Bronze, Jade, Marble (March 1, 1957 to January 1, 1963)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 14 and 15 (February 25, 1956 to March 1, 1957)

  Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Jade and Bronze (August 26, 1955 to October 25, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1955 (October 24, 1955 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1945 (January 9, 1945 to August 20, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1944 (December 13, 1944 to May 7, 1946)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Metalwork, 1943 (March 22, 1943 to December 13, 1944)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Metalwork (March 14, 1931 to March 22, 1943)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Otto Burchard & Co.

  Mr. Hans Georg Oeder (died 1937)

  C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

  This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s, BCE 1000s

• Name

  Otto Burchard & Co., C.T. Loo & Company, Oeder, Hans Georg

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Bronze, Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 - 771 BCE), Art, Sculpture, Chinese Art, Metal-work

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)