H x W x D: 17.2 x 17.5 x 6.3 cm (6 3/4 x 6 7/8 x 2 1/2 in)
Type:
Sculpture
Origin:
China
Date:
1900-1960
Period:
Modern period
Description:
Clay: fine-grained, light buff stoneware.
Decoration: hollow with opening in back; linear designs all over body and head.
Provenance:
To 1950
Jun Tsei Tai (1911-1992), Hong Kong and New York, to August 1950. [1]
From 1950 to 1960
C. T. Loo & Company, New York, purchased from Jun Tsei Tai in August 1950. [2]
From 1960
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from C. T. Loo & Company on July 22, 1960. [3]
Notes:
[1] See C. T. Loo's stockcard no. LI-5/153: "Pottery statuette of a standing deer with legs partly folded. Three horned antler. Head and body incised with wide meander. White pottery oval hole on back. Found in An Yang. Shang," copy in object file.
According to an annotation on the stockcard, the object was acquired from J. T. Tai in August 1950.
Information that the figure was found in Anyang was proved to be erroneous when the figure was confirmed to be a modern forgery.
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.
[3] See Invoice issued by Executor of the Estate of C. T. Loo, dated July 22, 1960, copy in object file.
