Water buffalo

Object Details

• Description

  Compact, block-like body with curving horns, blunt ears and head indicated summarily.

• Provenance

  1940

  C. T. Loo & Co., New York, from at least January 1940 [1]

  From 1940 to 1951

  Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964), Ascona, Switzerland, purchased from C. T. Loo on September 21, 1940 and lent to the Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo, New York [2]

  1951

  US Government vested Eduard von der Heydt's property under the provisions of "Trading with the Enemy Act" by vesting order, dated August 21, 1951 [3]

  From 1964 to 1973

  National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, from March 1964 [4]

  From 1973

  Freer Gallery of Art, transferred from National Museum of Natural History in 1973 [5]

  Notes:

  [1] The sculpture was exhibited by C. T. Loo in January 1940, see C. T. Loo & Co., An Exhibition of Chinese Stone Sculptures (New York, 1940), cat. 4 (ill.).

  According to the catalogue's entry, the sculpture was found in Anyang.

  See also "China's Monumentality in Stone," Art Digest (January 15, 1940), pp. 15, 31.

  [2] See "Catalogue of the Von der Heydt Loan to the Buffalo Museum of Science: Loan Material from Baron Von der Heydt, as of March 1949," where the sculpture is documented under an inventory card no. 40108, copy in object file.

  [3] See Vesting Order No. 18344, August 21, 1951, Office of Alien Property, Department of Justice.

  Eduard von der Heydt exhausted all the legal remedies against the forfeiture of his property provided to him by the Trading with the Enemy Act.

  [4] Attorney General, Robert Kennedy authorized transfer of the von der Heydt collection from Buffalo Museum of Science to the custody of the Smithsonian Institution in March 1964. The collection was transferred to the National Museum of Natural History.

  In 1966 US Congress legislated transferring the title of the von der Heydt collection to the Smithsonian Institution, see Public Law 89-503, 80 Stat. 287, July 18, 1966. The sculpture was accessioned under no. 448091, see "Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Accession Data," copy in object file.

  [5] The sculpture was among 13 objects in the von der Heydt collection transferred from National Museum of Natural History to the Freer Gallery of Art, see "Smithsonian Institution Intramural Transfer of Specimens" memorandum, dated January 29, 1973, copy in object file. The sculpture was accessioned to the Freer Gallery Study Collection under no. FSC-S-7 and subsequently transferred to the permanent collection in August 1978.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions 1970-1980 (November 9, 1979 to May 22, 1980)

• Previous custodian or owner

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

  Baron Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964)

  National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution

• Origin

  Anyang, probably Henan province, China

• Credit Line

  Transfer from the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 1000s

• Name

  von der Heydt, Eduard, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, C.T. Loo & Company

• Place

  China, Henan province, Anyang

• Topic

  Art, Chinese Art, Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300 - 1050 BCE), Stone, Buffaloes

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Sculpture