Garment hook (daigou) with geometric decoration

Historical period(s)
Warring States period, Late Eastern Zhou dynasty, ca. 5th-4th century BCE
Medium
Bronze inlaid with gold and turquoise
Dimensions
H x W x D: 19.9 x 1.4 x 4 cm (7 13/16 x 9/16 x 1 9/16 in)
Geography
China
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1949.25
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Jewelry and Ornament, Metalwork
Type

Garment hook

Keywords
China, Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE)
Provenance

To 1949
Jun Tsei Tai (1911-1992), Shanghai, to March 1949 [1]

1949
C. T. Loo & Company, New York, purchased from Jun Tsei Tai in March 1949 [2]

From 1949
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on November 7, 1949 [3]

Notes:

[1] See C. T. Loo's stockcard no. 46344: "Bronze buckle, long curved buckle inlaid with gold and turquoise, Late Chou," C. T. Loo & Frank Caro Archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy in object file. According to an annotation on the stockcard, Loo purchased the object from J. T. Tai.

Jun Tsei Tai (more commonly known in the West as J. T. Tai), known also as Dai Fubao in Shanghai, was a successful art dealer who was initially based in Shanghai China. Tai became one of C. T. Loo's most prolific suppliers in the 1940s. In 1949, however, J. T. Tai fled with his family to Hong Kong, when Communist leaders came into power. In 1950, he immigrated to New York City, where he established J. T. Tai & Company, a successful company that specialized in the sale of Chinese arts.

[2] See C. T. Loo's stockcard cited in note 1. On February 21, 1949, the object was sent to the Freer Gallery for examination.

[3] See C. T. Loo's invoice, dated November 7, 1949, copy in object file.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Jun Tsei Tai 1911-1992
C.T. Loo & Company 1914-1948

Published References
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Thomas Lawton, Harold P. Stern. The Freer Gallery of Art. 2 vols., Washington and Tokyo, 1971-1972. cat. 21, vol. 1: p. 155.
  • Thomas Lawton. Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. Washington, 1982-1983. cat. 49, p. 99.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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