Reclining Tiger

Possibly Arthur B. Rothwell (1906-1994), New York, Panama and Dallas, TX, by December 1960;

Possibly acquired from Rothwell, by exchange, by Laurence Sickman (1907-1988), Kansas City, MO, 1960-1988 [1];

His bequest to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1988.

NOTES:

[1] In a letter to Arthur B. Rothwell dated December 29, 1960, Laurence Sickman, Nelson-Atkins Director, proposed an exchange with Rothwell related to Sickman’s private collection: “I have, myself, a collection of small animals in jade hard stones, dated from the Han Dynasty up to the eighteenth century. I would like very much to add to this collection the small white stone or bone reclining animal and the two small fragments of similar material probably from the same site. Since my small collection is going to the Gallery eventually this piece would, in due time, rejoin the collection. I would propose to trade you for these a Ting ware bowl which is in remarkably fine condition.” It is not definitive that object nos. F88-40/41 A-C are the “reclining animal and the two small fragments” to which Sickman refers in this letter, but they are the only objects among the pieces Sickman bequeathed to the Nelson-Atkins that match this description. The letter is in the Nelson-Atkins Archives, RG02 Department of Asian Art Records, Box 6, folder 2.