Indra on his Elephant Airavata

Possibly Baron Alexander von Staël-Holstein (1877-1937), Beijing, by 1937 [1];

With Draper and Draper, St. Louis, by 1950 [2];

Purchased from Draper and Draper by Fred W. (1904-1983) and Grace V. (nee Rutt, 1902-1991) Kaler, Damariscotta, ME, by 1951;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1979 [3].

[1] Baron Alexander von Stael-Holstein was born in Estonia, a province of the former Russian empire at the time of his birth.  Early studies at the University of Tartu (formerly Universität Dorpat) and then Germany show his burgeoning interest in Sanskrit and Indian literature.  Following diplomatic service (1903–04), he held professorial positions at the University of St. Petersburg and the National University of Beijing where he settled following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.  While in Beijing, Stael-Hoeltein established and became director of the Institute for Research in Sino-Indian Relations in connection with Harvard University.  At the time of his death, his collection included several hundred lamaistic statuettes and paintings. (See Ernst Schierlitz, “In Memory of Alexander Wilhelm Baron von Staël-Holstein,” in Monumenta Serica 3, no. 1 (1937): 286–291.)

[2] In a letter from Grace Kaler to George McKenna, NAMA curator, January 6, 1976, NAMA curatorial files, Kaler shares that she and her husband purchased this bronze from Draper and Draper in St. Louis.  Kaler also shares that they received a card from the Drapers, postmarked March 31, 1950, announcing, “Just bought a large part of the Baron A. von Staël-Holstein collection of lama bronzes.”

[3] Grace Kaler, in a letter to Laurence Sickman, NAMA director, August 24, 1965 (Based on the response by Sickman, the year was mistyped and should be 1975.), offers for sale bronzes formerly in the collection of Baron A. von Staël-Holstein.  The Kaler’s were aware that Sickman studied with Staël-Holstein (at Harvard and then at the University of Beijing).  After learning that we were unable to purchase the bronzes, Grace Kaler, in a letter dated November 16, 1975, (NAMA curatorial files), offered a gift of one or two of the bronzes from their remaining collection.