H x W x D: 32.7 x 21.8 x 48.5 cm (12 7/8 x 8 9/16 x 19 1/8 in)
Type:
Sculpture
Origin:
China
Date:
618-907
Period:
Tang dynasty
Provenance:
From at least 1936 to 1940
C. T. Loo & Co., New York, from at least June 1936 [1]
From 1940 to 1951
Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964), Ascona, Switzerland, purchased from C. T. Loo on September 23, 1940 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]
[2] See C. T. Loo's stockcard cited in note 1 which provides the date of acquisition as September 23, 1940.
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. 40113, copy in object file. The inventory card cites two acquisition dates: July 1940 and October 1, 1940.
[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. 448097, see "Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Accession Data," copy in object file.
[5] The sarcophagus 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 sarcophagus was accessioned to the Freer Gallery Study Collection under no. FSC-S-12 and subsequently transferred to the permanent collection in August 1978.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions 1970-1980 (November 9, 1979 to May 22, 1980)
Previous custodian or owner:
C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
Baron Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964)
National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution
