Hinged garment hook with dragon
date: label: Date
content: 5th-4th century BCE
label: Period
content: Late Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States period
notes: label: Description
content: Hook, with hinged handle. Decoration in relief and incised to receive inlay. Olivve green patina, with traces of lacquer like inlay material.
label: Provenance
content: From at least 1924
label: Provenance
content: C. T. Loo & Company, Paris, from at least 1924 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From at least 1933
label: Provenance
content: Mrs. Christian R. Holmes (1871-1941), New York and "The Chimneys," Sands Point, Port Washington, Long Island, from at least 1933 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From at least 1944
label: Provenance
content: Tonying and Company, New York from at least February 1944 [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1944
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Tonying and Company, New York on September 21, 1944 [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Zhu Deyi, P. Pelliot,
label: Provenance
content: Bronzes antiques de la Chine appartenant à C. T. Loo et Cie. (Paris and Brussels: Librairie Nationale d’art et d’histoire, G. van Oest, 1924), pl. 36.
label: Provenance
content: According to Paul Pelliot’s preface to the catalogue, the bronzes forming the C. T. Loo collection and selected for the publication had been recently brought from China.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Umehara Sueji, Shina-kodo Seikwa (Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Europe and America): Part III Miscellaneous Objects vol. 1 (Osaka: Yamanaka & Co., 1933), pl. 65. Mrs. Holmes lent the object to the International Exhibition of Chinese Art at Royal Academy of Fine Arts in London in 1935-36, see Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, November 1935-March 7, 1936), cat. 535 (ill.).
label: Provenance
content: [3] See “List of Objects Contemplated for Purchase by the Freer Gallery of Art,” approved by C. G. Abbot, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution on February 4, 1944, copy in object file.
label: Provenance
content: [4] See Tonying & Company’s invoice, dated September 21, 1944, in which the object figures under no. B. 39: “Large Bronze Hook with hinged handle / Chou,” copy in object file. See also A. G. Wenley’s letter to C. F. Yau, Tonying & Co., dated September 19, 1944, in which Wenley confirms the purchase of the object.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Community, 480-222 B.C. (September 30, 1982 to February 17, 1983)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Bronze, Jade, Metalwork (March 1, 1957 to January 1, 1963)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 14 and 15 (February 25, 1956 to March 1, 1957)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Metalwork and Painting, East Corridor (February 15, 1955 to August 26, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Special Mirror Exhibition (November 16, 1954 to February 25, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Chinese Art, 1946 (May 7, 1946 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Art, 1944 (November 15, 1944 to May 6, 1946)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: C. T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Mrs. Christian R. Holmes (1871-1941)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Tonying and Company 通運公司 (established 1902)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: casting
label: Topic
content: inlay (process)
label: Topic
content: metal
label: Topic
content: bronze
label: Topic
content: Eastern Zhou dynasty (770 - 221 BCE)
label: Topic
content: Warring States period (475 - 221 BCE)
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1944.57
objectType: label: Type
content: Tool and Equipment
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Bronze with traces of paste inlay
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 22.3 x 9.8 cm (8 3/4 x 3 7/8 in)