Seated tiger

By February 1921 to May 1921
Lai-Yuan & Company, New York, Pekin, Shanghai, and Paris acquired from an unknown source [1]

From 1921
Freer Gallery of Art purchased from Lai-Yuan & Co. in installments, the first of which was issued in May 1921 [2]

Notes:
[1] Lai-Yuan & Company, New York had this object stored in his New York property near two large, stone relief sculptures (F1921.1 & F1921.2) and members of the newly organized Freer Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Institution (especially Dr. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian) took note of its existence, see letter from J. E. Lodge to C. T. Loo of Lai-Yuan & Company, February 10, 1921, copy in object file.

[2] On March 21, 1921, Lai-Yuan & Company sent this object and F1921.1, and F1921.2 to the Freer Gallery of Art via railroad. The objects arrived on March 29 and the Gallery paid for the three objects in instalments, the first of which was issued in May 1921 and the final on January 10, 1922, see letter from C. T. Loo to Miss. K. N. Roades, May 4, 1921 and unsigned letter (likely from Dr. Lodge) to “Gentlemen,” Lai-Yuan & Company, January 10, 1922, copies in object file.

Lai-Yuan & Company wanted to give this gift to “Mr. Freer’s Museum,” however in his will, Charles Lang Freer specified that the museum could not except gifts other than those offered by individuals included on a specific list. To accommodate Lai-Yuan & Company’s generosity and to please the museum’s stakeholders, especially the Smithsonian Institution’s secretary, the Gallery negotiated with Lai-Yuan & Company to include this object with the purchase of F1921.1 and F1921.2.