John Hadley Cox (1913-2005), method of acquisition unknown [1]
From 1991
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, gift of John Hadley Cox [2]
Notes:
[1] See “Listing of Objects offered to the FGA by Mr. John Hadley Cox,” September 12, 1991, copy in object file.
John Hadley Cox (1913-2005) was an educator and a collector of Chinese archaeological ceramic, pottery, and bronze vessels, predominantly from the Changsha region of Hunan Province in South Central China. Upon graduating from Yale University in 1935 (B.A.), he spent two years teaching at Yale University's Yale-in-China program in Changsha. Whilst in China, he amassed his collection of ceramics and other materials from active archaeological sites in the region. During World War II, Cox served as an officer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (now the CIA), and he was sent to Shanghai in 1945 to collect counterintelligence. Cox was also a fellow of the Harvard-Yenching Institute of Far Eastern Studies, an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Michigan, and a linguistics professor at Georgetown University. In 1991, Cox donated 106 potsherds of Thai, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Chinese origin to the Freer Gallery Study Collection. Cox also left numerous items of his collection to the art gallery of his alma mater.
[2] See Deed of Gift from John Hadley Cox, December 19, 1991, copy in object file. This work is part of the museum’s Freer Study Collection.
