Lion Head

Object Details

• Provenance

  From at least 1935 to 1942

  C. T. Loo & Co., Paris and New York, from at least June 14, 1935 [1]

  From 1942 to 1951

  Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964), Ascona, Switzerland, purchased from C. T. Loo on August 27, 1942 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 his gallery in Paris in 1935, see C. T. Loo & Cie., Exposition de sculptures et bronzes anciens de L'Inde, exh. cat. (Paris: C. T. Loo & Cie., June 15-July 31, 1935), cat. 6, pl. 3.

  In June 1936 the sculpture was sent by Loo for purchase consideration to St. Louis City Art Museum, see C. T. Loo's stockcard no. J-216: "Large stone head of a lion on a marble base Amaravati. 2nd A.D.," C. T. Loo & Frank Caro Archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy in object file.

  In 1939 Loo included the sculpture in an exhibition at Vassar College Art Gallery, see Sculpture of India: Eliza Buffington Memorial Exhibition, exh. cat. (Poughkeepsie: Vassar College Art Gallery, April 12-May 12, 1939), cat. 9, pl. 3. Chauncey Hamlin in a letter to Eduard von der Heydt cited Alfred Salmony's statement according to which the sculpture previously belonged to the lot acquired by Gabriel Jonveau-Dubreuil (1885-1945) when he lived in Madras, India, see Hamlin to von der Heydt, August 28, 1942, Chauncey Hamlin Papers, Buffalo Museum of Art.

  [2] See Loo's stockcard cited in note 1.

  According to an annotation on the stockcard, the sculpture was sent to Buffalo on July 30, 1942 and sold to von der Heydt on August 27, 1942.

  See also "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 object is documented under an inventory card no. 42131, copy in object file. The inventory card provides September 8, 1943 as an acquisition date.

  [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 object was accessioned under no. 448110, 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-14 and subsequently transferred to the permanent collection in August 1978.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas (October 16, 2004 to January 3, 2016)

  Hindu and Buddhist Art (January 28, 1981 to September 24, 1981)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil (French, 1885-1945)

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

  Baron Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964)

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

• Origin

  Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh state, India

• 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

  100s, 200s

• Name

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

• Place

  Andhra Pradesh state, Amaravati, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Cats, Art, Animals, Satavahana dynasty (1st century BCE - 299 CE)

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Sculpture