Hinged garment hook with dragon

Object Details

• Description

  Hook, with hinged handle. Decoration in relief and incised to receive inlay. Olivve green patina, with traces of lacquer like inlay material.

• Provenance

  From at least 1924

  C. T. Loo & Company, Paris, from at least 1924 [1]

  From at least 1933

  Mrs. Christian R. Holmes (1871-1941), New York and "The Chimneys," Sands Point, Port Washington, Long Island, from at least 1933 [2]

  From at least 1944

  Tonying and Company, New York from at least February 1944 [3]

  From 1944

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Tonying and Company, New York on September 21, 1944 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See Zhu Deyi, P. Pelliot,

  Bronzes antiques de la Chine appartenant à C. T. Loo et Cie. (Paris and Brussels: Librairie Nationale d’art et d’histoire, G. van Oest, 1924), pl. 36.

  According to Paul Pelliot’s preface to the catalogue, the bronzes forming the C. T. Loo collection and selected for the publication had been recently brought from China.

  [2] See Umehara Sueji, Shina-kodo Seikwa (Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and America): Part III Miscellaneous Objects vol. 1 (Osaka: Yamanaka & Co., 1933), pl. 65. Mrs. Holmes lent the object to the International Exhibition of Chinese Art at Royal Academy of Fine Arts in London in 1935-36, see Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, November 1935-March 7, 1936), cat. 535 (ill.).

  [3] See “List of Objects Contemplated for Purchase by the Freer Gallery of Art,” approved by C. G. Abbot, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution on February 4, 1944, copy in object file.

  [4] See Tonying & Company’s invoice, dated September 21, 1944, in which the object figures under no. B. 39: “Large Bronze Hook with hinged handle / Chou,” copy in object file. See also A. G. Wenley’s letter to C. F. Yau, Tonying & Co., dated September 19, 1944, in which Wenley confirms the purchase of the object.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Community, 480-222 B.C. (September 30, 1982 to February 17, 1983)

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

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

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

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Metalwork and Painting, East Corridor (February 15, 1955 to August 26, 1955)

  Special Mirror Exhibition (November 16, 1954 to February 25, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1946 (May 7, 1946 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Art, 1944 (November 15, 1944 to May 6, 1946)

• Previous custodian or owner

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

  Mrs. Christian R. Holmes (1871-1941)

  Tonying and Company 通運公司 (established 1902)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Tool and Equipment

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s

• Name

  Holmes, Christian R., Tonying and Company, C.T. Loo & Company

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Bronze, Art, Inlay (process), Sculpture, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE), Chinese Art, Warring States period (475 - 221 BCE), Metal-work

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Tools and equipment