John Hadley Cox Archaeological Study Collection

Period latern slides taken in the mid to late 1930's pertaining to objects in Mr. Cox's collection, namely ceramics, bronzes, lacquer and figures found at archaeological sites in Changsha, Hunan province, dating primarily from the Zhou and Han Dynasties and from the Warring States period.

At a later date, a 5 minute 16mm film of the annual Dragon Boat Festival, shot in Changsha, Hunan province, in 1935 was added to this collection by the donor. The film was converted into both Beta and VHS cassette formats.

John Hadley Cox (b. 1913) was a collector of Chinese archaeological ceramic, pottery and bronze vessels, predominantly from the Ch'angsha region of Hunan Province, South Central China. Upon graduating from Yale University in 1935, he spent two years teaching at Yale University's Yale-in-China program in Changsha. In 1991, Mr.Cox also donated 106 potsherds of Thai, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Chinese origin to the Freer Gallery Study Collection. Mr. Cox also left numerous items of his collection to the art gallery of his alma mater.

Cox, John Hadley, b. 1913

Changsha (Hunan Sheng, China)

China -- Hunan Province -- Changsha

Archaeology -- China -- Antiquities

Ceramics -- China

Pottery -- China

Bronzes, Chinese

Lacquer and lacquering -- China

Box 1

Photographs donated by John Hadley Cox, 1991. Film donated by John Hadley Cox, 1992.

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Lantern slides

John Hadley Cox Archaeological Study Collection. FSA.A1991.07. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

This collection is arranged into 16 series:

Series 1: Tombs & grave at Changsha (Hunan Province), 1936-1937

Series 2: Changsha Exhibition (Yale, 1939)

Series 3: Objects from the same Chu Tomb, Changsha

Series 4: Bronze vessels

Series 5: Bronze objects

Series 6: Bronze mirrors

Series 7: Bronze object

Series 8: Chu pottery

Series 9: Han and later ceramics

Series 10: Chu wooden "Zhenmushou"

Series 11: Chu wooden burial figures

Series 12: Other Chu wooden pieces

Series 13: Chu lacquer pieces

Series 14: Lacquer pattern

Series 15: Others

Series 16: Chu silk manuscript

Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.

Lantern slides

Collection is open for research.