Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery World War II Era Provenance Project and Asian Art Provenance Research Resources Dorota Chudzicka, Provenance Research Associate David Hogge, Head of Archives Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery The Smithsonian s Museums of Asian Art Washington, DC Delivered at New Era of Collaboration and Digitized Resources: World War II Provenance Research Seminar, May 6-7, 2011
Freer Gallery of Art, north façade, c. 1923 Freer Gallery of Art Building Records F S Archives, Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery of Art, Chinese art installation, gallery 13, 1923 F S Archives, Smithsonian Institution Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, c. 1987 F S Archives, Smithsonian Institution Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, South and South East Asian Art gallery, c. 1987 F S Archives, Smithsonian Institution
A. L. Coburn, Freer (1854-1919) comparing Whistler s Venus Rising from the Sea to an Islamic glazed ceramic pot, 1909 F S Archives, Smithsonian Institution James McNeill Whistler, Portrait of Charles Lang Freer, 1902, oil on wood panel, 51.8 x 31.7 cm (20 3/8 x 12 1/2 in) Freer Gallery of Art, F1903.301 Freer Gallery of Art, Whistler and His Circle in Venice installation, 2003
Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery s collection Beaker Iran, Seljuq period, early 13th c. Purchase, F1928.2 Jar China, Henan province, Anyang late 13th-early 12th c. BCE Purchase, F1939.42 Pair of supports in the form of tigers China, Shaanxi province, Baoji Xian 900-850 BCE Purchase, F1935.21-22 Canteen Probably northern Iraq Ayyubid dynasty, mid-14th c. Purchase, F1941.10 Incense burner China, Henan or Hebei province, ca. 2nd c. BCE Purchase, F1947.15 Lion, Ch l-lin, and Dragon Set in a Floral Spray Turkey, Ottoman period, mid-16th c. Purchase, F1948.17 Ritual grain server (gui) China, ca. 1045 BCE Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, F1968.29 Round axe (qibi) China, 12th-11th c. BCE Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, F1970.39 Cranes Itō Jakuchū (1719-1800) Japan, Edo period, ca. 1775-90 Purchase Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation F1997.25.1-2 Shiva Vinadhara India, Tamil Nadu, ca. 950 Purchase, F1997.28 Figure of a seated woman China, first half of 8th c. Purchase Friends of the Freer and Sackler Galleries, F2001.8
Chimera (bixie) China, Eastern Han dynasty, ca. 25-220 Jade, 8.1 x 13.9 x 3.8 cm Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, S1987.26 Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987), c. 1985 Photograph by Henry Groskinsky F S Archives, Smithsonian Institution Ritual wine container (you) China, Shang dynasty, ca. 13th-12th c. BCE. Bronze, 30.1 x 12.2 x 12.5 cm Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, S1987.23 Rhyton Iran or Afghanistan, 4th c. Silver and gilt, 15.5 x 25.4 x 14.1 cm Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, S1987.33
Cologne 1926 Berlin 1929 London 1935-36 Stockholm 1933 Paris 1937
Smithsonian Institution, Provenance in the World War II Era http://provenance.si.edu/jsp/index.aspx
Ritual grain server (gui) Early Western Zhou dynasty, ca. late 11th-early 10th c. BCE Bronze, 28.1 x 34 x 24.4 cm Freer Gallery of Art, F1938.20
Ritual grain server (gui) Early Western Zhou dynasty, ca. late 11th-early 10th c. BCE Bronze, 28.1 x 34 x 24.4 cm Freer Gallery of Art, F1938.20 A Descriptive and Illustrative Catalogue of Chinese Bronzes, Washington 1946
The Freer and Sackler Galleries World War II Era Provenance Project http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/ww2provenance.asp
The Freer and Sackler Galleries World War II Era Provenance Project http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/ww2provenance.asp
The ample study rooms and the varied nature of the collection to go into the Freer unit, will attract scholars from distant countries as well as from far away points in the United States, and it could, I believe, become eventually, a very valuable educational asset. Charles Lang Freer Letter to Secretary Walcott, Sept. 9 th, 1919.
What we are: A repository of original research documents Part of a resource center for the study of Asian and Middle Eastern art and culture
What we collect: Personal and professional papers of collectors, dealers, archaeologists and scholar who have participated in the West s encounter with Asian art. Photographic materials with research value
Collectors
Charles Lang Freer Papers
Charles Lang Freer Papers
Charles Lang Freer Papers
Henri Vever Papers
Henri Vever Papers
Paul Singer Papers
Dealers
Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers
C.T. Loo family photographs
C.T. Loo family photographs
C.T. Loo family photographs
Archaeologists
Archaeological Expeditions in China
Carl Whiting Bishop Papers
Li Chi Manuscripts
Ernst Herzfeld Papers
Ernst Herzfeld Papers
Ernst Herzfeld Papers
Scholars
Benjamin March Papers
Myron Bement Smith Papers
James Cahill Papers
Photographs
Photographs