Qin tuning key (qin zhenyao) with crouching bear

Object Details

• Provenance

  From at least 1949 to 1951

  F. Low-Beer & Co., New York, N.Y., from at least May 1949 [1]

  From June 1951

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976) on June 27, 1951 [2]

  Notes:

  [1] Fritz Low-Beer offered the object to the Freer Gallery of Art for acquisition in his correspondence with Archibald G. Wenley, Director, Freer Gallery of Art, in May 1949, see F. Low-Beer to A. G. Wenley, May 9, 1949, copy in object file.

  It was presented together with the bronze figure (F1951.7a) as two-part sculpture with bear and figure joined to look as if the figure was holding the bear aloft on a pole.

  The sculpture was approved for purchase in June 1949, see document confirming the examination of the object and approval by the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, the Commission of Fine Arts, and Katherine Rhoades, June 21, 1949, copy in object file.

  [2] See Fritz Low-Beer & Co.’s invoice, dated June 27, 1951, where the object is listed with F1951.7a as “Bronze statuette of man with animal, Chinese, Loyang,” copy in object file.

  The acquisition was announced in “Chinese Art Recently Acquired by American Museums,” Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America VI (1952), fig. 10.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Virtue and Entertainment: Chinese Music in the Visual Arts (October 1, 2005 to May 29, 2006)

  The Dragon's Moan (February 6 to October 1, 2000)

  Chinese Metalwork (May 9, 1993 to March 21, 1997)

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

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Musical Instrument

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s

• Name

  Low-Beer, Fritz

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Animals, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE), Chinese Art, Bears

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Musical instruments