As a Chinese ceramics collector myself, I really wanted to know more about all the past or present collectors that have shared this same passion with me.

Having a passion is great but sharing it is exceedingly better.

In this article, I will go through the life and collection of many ambitious Chinese ceramics lovers and collectors. I will try to understand their converging taste. Our converging taste!

As the topic is complex and long to tackle, I propose to constantly update and complement this article with new analyses, thoughts and discoveries. You can consider that this post will never really be over and will always be work in progress.

You are all the more welcome to react and enrich this article while contacting me and sharing comments with others!

Let’s go!

In the following pages, I will focus on several Chinese ceramics collectors. I think that an interesting way of structuring this work could be performed several ways:

-             - Whether they are past or alive collectors;

-             - By their cultural origins;

-             - Whether they have exclusively focused their collection on Chinese ceramics or in the contrary they were serial collectors (and      Chinese ceramics appears to be one of them).

These three segmentation axes seems quite interesting to me as they should leave room to very different collecting approaches and personalities. A further axis could have been the type of Chinese ceramics collected (monochrome, colored, dynasty, shape, imperial kilns, Compagnie des Indes, …) but it seems a bit too sophisticated to me as a first entry key and we will clearly work on this collector by collector so the topic should be fully covered anyway.

I am not an academic neither a mother tongue English speaker. So, for these two good reasons, I will thank you in advance to be indulgent with my work and writing! Do not see any cultural preference but we will start with American collectors, follow-up with European ones and finish with Asian ones. We will keep the meilleur pour la fin! [the best for the end!]. Who knows, may be we will once have the chance to know more about the Min Chiu Society secrets!

https://asiasociety.org/hong-kong/events/min-chiu-society 

 

American Collectors

John Pierpont Morgan (1837 – 1913)

JP. Morgan stands among the serial collectors as he did not only focus its Art collection on Chinese ceramics. However we can very quickly excuse him as he was so wealthy that he could probably not have found enough to collect focusing only on ceramics… John Pierpont Morgan has also several specificities worth to know. He never really traveled to Asia and he entered it Chinese ceramics collecting at an advanced age, probably around 1900’, i.e. around 65 years old.

What is really interesting is to see that he picked up this subject of collection when coming to maturity. His reputation was not to build any more. His wealth was incommensurate.

The way he built is collection was also very specific as he bought complete collections from the inheritants of former collectors, the best known being the James A. Garland collection (1902 – purchased for 600'000 US$). His collecting effort was not a piece by piece one but more looking like an ogre’s appetite. He had not time to lose.

The assembling and the composition of his collection is very well retraced in the James J. Lally lecture, following the link below. James L. Lally is a famous US Chinese Art expert.

James L. Lally lecture 

James Lally - the boom of Chinese Art - 1987

This link also develops the collecting work of a Second US collector from the same period, Charles Lang Freer. He will logically be the second collector we will talk about.

John Pierpont Morgan amassed a large collection of some 1,800 pieces of Chinese porcelain, which was sold after his death through the dealer Duveen Brothers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Duveen,_1st_Baron_Duveen 

In a nutshell, JP. Morgan was an avid amateur but could not be considered as an in-depth connoisseur. He was a great believer in professional expertise and leveraged Duveen skills and knowledge. 

After James A. Garland collection purchase, he mandated Duveen to fulfill the sequences of his collection while purchasing for an additionnal 200'000 US$ pieces. His collection was installed in the Metropolitan Museum of NY as showed on the below picture.

Metropolitan Museum - JP. Morgan Chinese ceramics installation - 1907  

He also had produced and printed a wonderful color plated catalog presenting his collection. He mandated the best historians and Chinese ceramics connoisseurs on this task.

JP. Morgan gathered as much as 1800 pieces. Main style and period represented were not the ones most valued by today's collectors. He held no stoneware and pottery, very few Song and Yuan pieces. He held only few imperial marked pieces. His collection mainly gathered Ming and Xing pieces, like Fahua and unmarked Qing monochromes. He also owned many blue and white Kangxi pieces as well as "Famille noire" pieces (Black Family). These Famille noire pieces were some of the most highly rated in the early XIXth century whereas there are less looked for by modern Chinese collectors more into Ding, Song or imperial marked pieces. 

As a conclusion, JP. Morgan has discovered Chinese ceramics as he was mature and wealthy. He was fascinated by all pieces of Art including Chinese porcelain. He built his collection quickly with the acquisition of massive portfolio of pieces that had been gathered by preceding collectors. JP. Morgan can obviously not be described as a patient and expert collector. He was seduced and intrigued by Chinese ceramics as an exotic field of Art. He never traveled to Asia and relied on historians and former collectors expertise. he however contributed significantly to the development of Chinese ceramics expertise and influence while investing his wealth on catalog and historian expertise as well as exhibiting his collection in the Metropolitan Museum in New-York.

So to be honest, I have to admit that JP Morgan and I have significantly diverging profiles:

    - I have started my collection much earlier than him;

    - I experience collecting just as treasure hunting and my collection growth pace is rather one piece each month. I would not imagine purchase the full collection of a former collector.

    - Just as him, I am not collecting imperial market pieces but the driver is more their scarcity and price on my side than a deliberate choice. 

    - Contrary to him, I am passionate on Song, Yuan or early Ming monochromes rather than later Ming or Qing porcelains. For example, he would have probably neglected this Yuan Yuhuchunping vase whereas I consider it is a masterpiece of my collection.

    - I traveled several times to Asia and China. Too short trips unfortunately but I hope opportunities will come soon. [Side message, Chinese or Hong-Kong collectors, you are most welcome to Europe to have a passionate discussion about ceramics. I will show you my collection that will hopefully enrich before your arrival!]

    - My drivers for collecting Chinese ceramics are aesthetics, knowledge, care for history and quest for serenity. Nothing else than drinking a tea contemplating an antique lavender-blue Meiping vase, wondering in which hands and regions it passed by a few centuries ago...       

JP. Morgan's collector profile is out-of-the box and does not look like the one of Charles Lang Freer, although living in the US at the same period of time. 

Charles Lang Freer (1854 – 1919)

Freer did not have the same family extraction than JP Morgan as he was born in a humble farmer family in 1854. As the third child of a family of 6 children, he had to work hard soon and his remarkable capacity of work and cleverness enabled him to become clerk and then partner in railroad and then rolling stock companies.

Freer was a real self made man who started with no social connections and no wealth and succeeded in building the largest rolling stock company in the United States with his partner Franck J. Hecker.

Charles Lang Freer and Franck J. Hecker

In 1899, Freer stopped his entrepreneur career and invested his fortune to let him spend the rest of his life on culture, travelling, connoisseurship and collecting. Just as JP. Morgan, he did nit started his collection with Chinese ceramics but rather old European engravings. Then he started to refine his paintings with pieces from the British painter Whistler and a selection of refined US painters. He then traveled to London and become a close friend of Whistler as well as his patron. 

1892 is and important date in his life as he started to purchase and collect some Japanese prints. His first step to Asian Art. In 1905, he stopped purchasing Japanese prints and sold all his collection to focus on Japanese and Chinese paintings rather than on prints. A second "wiser" step from his own words.

During this period, Freer decided to travel to Asia and he discovered Japan, India and China.

Contrary to JP. Morgan, Freer made real efforts to develop his own connoisseurship and he developed his own sense and appreciation for each piece. He also drove his collection with a kind of business sense when he discovered that he could purchase much finer paintings from Chinese painters at a lower cost than Japanese paintings. 

In 1909, Freer wen to Northern China for more than 2 months. At this occasion, Freer established a sustainable relationships with a Chinese expert named Nam Ming Yuan who helped and advised him during this first expedition, the following ones and afterwards when Freer was back to the USA. Freer could leverage this relationship to increase his level of knowledge and to keep on purchasing rare pieces in China from the USA.

Thanks to Nam Ming Yuan, he has also the rare opportunity to meet with Chinese collectors and to receive some tutelage from them. He wrote to his former partner Hecker : "the Chinese collectors are masterful teachers".

Expedition of Freer in China with Nam Ming Yuan 

From his own words, Freer acknowledged that he was not interested in so-called porcelain but more by Song ceramics. He said explicitly: "I am interested in fine early Chinese pottery." When he had the opportunity to attend a private visit of the imperial collections in Beijing, he waited politely in the Kangxi period room but asked to see the Song period room afterwards as well as the famous Ding wares. 

After he had a stroke in 1911, Freer could not travel again but he spent the rest of his life collecting Song ceramics. He also took the time to have Whistler build him a specific environment for his collection. This led Whistler to create the famous peacock room, the only remaining room left that has been decorated by Whistler and where Freer could expose his masterpieces in a beaitiful environment.

Peacock room

Peacock room 2

The collection amassed by Freer his gathering some wonderful jun, guan, ding pieces and I must admit that, as a collector, I would rather compare my approach to the one of Freer rather than JP Morgan. This is true on any points.

I value travelling, connoisseurship and my taste have directly driven my collection to monochrome ceramics. I enjoy only little enameled ceramics with plenty of vivid colors. On the contrary, I am amazed by sober shapes combined with sober colors. I value sobriety as the highest value in Art. Nothing else than Meiping or Yuhuchunping celadon or sky blue vases. 

In their situations (Morgan and Freer), I think I would have definitely chosen the Freer's way: stopping entrepreneurship to experience a second life of collector. I also very much like the way Freer built his connoisseurship in contact with Nam Ming Yuan and some experienced Beijing Chinese collectors. I am happy to discover than over one century ago between 1905 and 1910, a Western Song collector had the opportunity to share and exchange about his passion with Chinese collectors. This opportunity, I will maybe experience it also on my side once. [To end up on with the comparison, my living room looks closer than the peacock room than Morgan's interior!]

As a conclusion, I feel definitely closer from Freer than Morgan. I am also relieved to discover that collectors from different continents already shared their knowledge and passion over one century ago. 

 John Pierpont Morgan Junior - Jack (1867 – 1943)

John Pierpont Morgan Junior was the only son of JP Morgan. He experienced a successful career of investment banker and investor following the path of his father. It is less known than for his father but he was also an amateur and connoisseur of Chinese ceramics and he assembled a very nice collection, mainly Kangxi pieces, that has been sold after his death (1943) by Parke-Bernet in New York in January 1944 .

However when JP Morgan Jr inherited from his father he had to pay for inheritance taxes and he took the decision to sell a large share of his father's Chinese ceramics collection, for around 3 mUS$ at that time (today 390 mUS$ considering inflation). Another share of the collection was attributed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art of NY, respecting the wish of his father who had been President between 1904 and 1913.

Supposedly, JP Morgan Jr may have also kept a few pieces from the collection of his father for private use too but the larger share of the collection was purchased by John D. Rockefeller Junior in 1915 via the art dealer Duveen.

 John D. Rockefeller Junior - (1874 – 1960)

 John D. Rockefeller Junior was not into Chinese ceramics until JP Morgan Sr's collection has been placed on sale by JP Morgan's Jr via the art dealer Duveen in 1915.

At that time, he asked his father a loan of 2 mUS$ to acquire the major share of the collection. His letter to his father sounded as follows:

“I have never squandered money on horses, yachts, automobiles or other foolish extravagances,” the collector wrote in a letter outlining his request. “A fondness for these porcelains is my only hobby – the only thing on which I have cared to spend money. I have found their study a great recreation and diversion, and I have become very fond of them…. The money put into these porcelains is not lost or squandered… I think you do not realize how much I should like to do it, for you do not know the beauty and charm of these works of art…”

Eventually his father gifted him the 2 mUS$ and the entire collection became his property! That's what we can call fast collecting!! I am not sure I would like this kind of batch collection as I feel so much pleasure in this every day treasure hunt to fulfill the collection. However, I understand he should have felt so privileged to "inherit" the JP Morgan's Sr legacy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

European Collectors

Under progress

Alfred Baur (1865-1951 - CH)

Alfred Baur was born in 1865 in the village of Andelfingen (Zurich). Having completed his studies at a Winterthur commercial school, he joined a local trading company which sent him to their branch in Colombo (Sri Lanka). In 1897, Mr Baur founded his own business there, setting up a company to manufacture organic fertilisers; A. Baur & Co. celebrated its centenary in 1997.

In 1906, Mr Baur returned to live in Switzerland, choosing to settle in Geneva, the home town of his wife, Eugénie Baur-Duret’s. He nevertheless continued to manage his business in Colombo, expanding and diversifying it over the years, most notably through the acquisition of several tea plantations.

Mr Baur’s return to Switzerland also marks the beginning of his activities as an art collector, with his first purchases of Japanese ceramics, lacquer ware, netsuke and sword fittings as well as Chinese jades. In all fields of art, he sought out works which displayed faultless craftsmanship and were aesthetically perfect. Alfred Baur’s meeting in 1924 with Tomita Kumasaku, an art dealer based in Kyoto, provided new impetus for his collection. Mr Baur regarded Tomita as an extremely knowledgeable expert, a man of sure and refined taste who understood his own demands and requirements. The major part of Baur’s collections, including many of the most exceptional pieces, was acquired through the guidance of this advisor.

The year 1928 marks an important stage in the development of the collection: this was the moment when Mr Baur began to show an interest in Chinese ceramics, a field which was to become one of his dominant interests. The 756 pieces which he acquired form a coherent collection ranging from the Tang (618-907) to the Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

Alfred Baur started his Chinese ceramics collection at the age of 63 which gives some hope to people younger collectors than me. I am happy to discover that after having collected several types of art pieces such as jade, netsuke or other Asian specificities, he finally concentrated on the best in class pieces, being Ceramics!  

 

Shortly before his death in 1951, Mr Baur purchased a town house in the centre of Geneva with the intention of turning it into a museum for his collections; the museum first opened to the public in 1964.

The Baur Foundation

 

Sir Percival David (1892-1964 - UK)

Roger Pilkington (? – 1969 - UK)

Michael Butler (1927-1913 - UK)

Lord Cunliffe (UK)

Mr & Mrs Alfred Clark

Ernest Grandidier (1833-1912 - FR)

Ernest Grandidier (1833-1912) has collected over 6'000 pieces of Chinese ceramics during his collectors life which he started in the 1870's. 

he worked during the French Empire as Auditor at the French State Council. he also participated in some scientific expeditions in South America. When the 2nd Empire collapsed, he decided to come back to civil life and spent his time and energy on collecting Chinese ceramics.

He becomes friend with the French sinologue Stanislas Julien (1799-1873): member of the prestigious Collège de France and author of the Jingdezhen Taolu in 1856, i.e Histoire et frabrication de la porcelaine chinoise, one of the very first encyclopedia classifying Chinese ceramics by technical and stylistic categories. In 1894, Ernest Grandidier writes and publishes Chinese ceramics, an in depth study on Chinese ceramics built as from his own collection and the elements contributed by Stanislas Julien. 

These two books are highly modern fort this period as they skip the traditional Europeo-centric approach focusing on Compagnie des Indes style pieces. Julien and Grandidier will really enter into Chinese elite connoisseurship of Chinese ceramics, much more focused on monochrome and sober colors and shapes.

If you want to have an extensive knowledge of Ernest Grandidier collection, you can surf on the Guimet Museum website.

But even better, come to Paris and visit the Guimet Museum!

https://www.guimet-grandidier.fr/html/4/index/index.htm

 

Among 6'000 pieces, I have chosen the below one to illustrate Ernest Grandidier's collection: a wonderful light peach skin Meiping vase from the Qing dynasty, either Yongzheng or Qianlong. Very sober, small (15 cm high) but so desirable for a monochrome ceramics collector as I am...

Alfred Schon Licht

Stephen Junkunc, III, (1905–1978) 

Stephen Junkunc, III was born in Budapest, Hungary circa 1905, and emigrated to Chicago, Illinois as a young child, where his father Stephen Junkunc, II (d. 1948), a tool-and-die maker, founded General Machinery & Manufacturing Company in 1918. The company specialized in the manufacture of knife edge fuel nozzle heads. With the outbreak of World War II, General Machinery converted its shop for the war effort and began manufacturing various aircraft parts, including B-29 hydraulic spools on behalf of Ford Motor Company, who was sub-contracting work from engine maker Pratt & Whitney.

Alongside his role as manager and part owner of the company, Stephen Junkunc, III spent his free time forming an extraordinary collection of Chinese art. With an unabated hunger for knowledge, Junkunc was a voracious reader who studied the Chinese language and kept extensive libraries of Chinese art reference books and auction catalogues at both his home and office. Junkunc appears to have made his first acquisitions in the early 1930s, apparently after having happened upon a book on Chinese art. It is perhaps no coincidence that Junkunc’s initial collecting activity largely coincided with the establishment of the Chicago branch of the reputable Japanese dealers Yamanaka & Co., Ltd., who opened a gallery at 846 North Michigan Boulevard in 1928. Many of Junkunc’s early purchases came from Yamanaka, and before long, he was buying directly from the leading London dealers specializing in Chinese art: Bluett & Sons, W. Dickinson & Sons, H.R.N. Norton and, of course, John Sparks, seeking fine examples of porcelain for his collection.

 

The collection of Chinese ceramics from the Junkunc Collection ranks amongst the greatest assemblages of porcelain ever formed in the West. The collection included two examples of the fabled Ru ware, of which only eighty-seven examples in the world are known. These two dishes represented two of the only seven examples of Ru ware to have been offered at auction since the 1940s. One of the Ru dishes, purchased from C.T. Loo in 1941, set a new world record when it sold at auction for $1.6 million in New York in 1992, and is today in the esteemed collection of Au Bak Ling. Junkunc’s discerning eye for ceramics was well established even in his nascent years of collecting, as evidenced by a letter he wrote to W. Dickinson & Sons in October 1935, requesting that they be on the lookout for him for Kangxi and Yongzheng period copper-red, peachbloom and celadon-glazed ‘cabinet pieces’ of ‘very fine quality only’. In May of 1936, he wrote to Bluett & Sons in London requesting that they continue to look for underglaze-red and peachbloom pieces for him, and to H.R.N. Norton in July of 1936 asking that he ‘send [him] photos of any nice pieces in monochromes finely decorated pieces of the Ching dynasty’, along with Ming pieces ‘in the Chinese taste’ such as ‘fine dainty bowls, stem cups, vases etc. of almost any description, but not the clumsy types with poor color and hurried drawings’.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-untold-story-of-stephen-junkunc-iii-one-of-the-great-chinese-art-collectors

 

Chinese Collectors

Under progress 

Richard Kan

Liu Yiqian

Liu Yiqian is a self-made Chinese billionaire, also weel-know for being a generous Art collector including exceptional Chinese ceramics. He recently revealed being the happy owner of 4 exceptional masterpieces purchased on auction in 2018 (2018 Chinese ceramics auction records). 

I especially appreciate his considerations regarding these four pieces : "Lovely pieces. If you buy them, they are kept in your hands. If you don’t buy them, you keep the money in your pocket. Beautiful things always attract our eyeballs. Not sure when will these items come up for auction again."

I fully recognize myself into this statement although my collection remains far more humble and modest!

Liu Yiqian 4 Chinese ceramics Stars

 My 5 "modest" Chinese ceramics Stars

Robert Tsao (Cao Xingcheng)

William Chak

Le Cong Tang

Edward T. Chow

Robert Chang (1927-...)

This collector is a "baroque" Hong-Kong art dealer that has built his fortune from the Chinese migrants to Hong-Kong.

Highly kitsch but lively environment! 

Robert Chang collector 

 

Japanese Collectors

Under progress 

Hikonobu Ise (1929 - ...)