The Art Institute of Chicago: a century of collecting Chinese ceramics

In October 1871, the Great Chicago Fire reduced much of the city to rubble, destroying more than 17,000 buildings and leaving nearly a third of its residents homeless. Yet the catastrophe also became an unlikely catalyst for one of the great urban transformations of the 19th century. As Chicago rebuilt at remarkable speed, it emerged as more than the commercial capital of the American Midwest: it was a city determined to establish itself as a global cultural centre. Fuelled by the fortunes of railroads, manufacturing and banking, a new generation of civic leaders and collectors sought to create a cultural capital that could rival New York, Paris and London.

The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, embodied that ambition. In 1893, the museum opened its new Beaux-Arts building on Michigan Avenue to coincide with the World’s Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World’s Fair), a landmark event that welcomed more than 27 million visitors and introduced many Americans to the arts of Asia on an unprecedented scale. In the decades that followed, many of Chicago’s leading patrons turned their attention to Asian art, assembling important collections that would become foundational to the Art Institute’s holdings.

On 17 September, Christie’s is proud to offer Chinese Ceramics from The Art Institute of Chicago, Sold to Enhance the Asian Art Collection and Care, a selection of 53 ceramics presented as part of its Important Chinese Art sale in New York, with an additional 113 lots offered in the Arts of Asia Online sale from 9–24 September. Assembled from the collections of some of the city’s most significant patrons, the works reflect more than a century of collecting in Chicago and the lasting legacy of those patrons at the Art Institute.

‘The collectors represented here helped establish Chicago as one of the great hubs for Chinese art in the United States,’ says Vicki Paloympis, head of the Chinese Works of Art Department at Christie’s New York. ‘Their generosity shaped the Art Institute into an essential destination for scholars and collectors of Asian art. I hope this sale encourages people to visit the museum’s galleries and discover the extraordinary breadth and quality of the collection.’

The stories of these five patrons trace the making of the Art Institute’s Asian art collection over the course of a century.

Kate Sturges Buckingham (1858–1937)

Kate Sturges Buckingham’s philanthropy transformed the Art Institute’s Asian collections as profoundly as that of any patron of her generation, although her legacy became inseparable from that of her siblings. While her own interests ranged from Chinese archaic bronzes and ceramics to Indian and Islamic painting, many of her earliest acquisitions reflected the tastes of her younger sister, Lucy Maud, while her brother Clarence became one of America’s foremost collectors of Japanese woodblock prints. Following their deaths, Kate dedicated herself to preserving their memory. Between 1921 and 1938, she donated more than 400 Chinese works to the museum in Lucy’s name, and in 1925 gifted Clarence’s collection of Japanese woodblock prints, laying the foundation for one of the finest holdings of its kind outside Japan.

A Kangxi peachbloom-glazed laifu zun (turnip-shaped vase) reflects the Buckingham sisters’ appreciation for elegant monochrome ceramics; white wares were a particular favourite of Lucy’s. Intended for the scholar’s table, the vessel’s raised bands evoke the strings of a Chinese musical instrument, earning it the name sanxuan zun, or ‘three-string vase.’ Its celebrated peachbloom glaze achieves its distinctive blush of pink through an exceptionally demanding process of layering and firing copper pigments.

Henry Charles Schwab (1867–1941)

Henry C. Schwab belonged to the generation of Chicago patrons whose dedication helped establish the city as one of America’s foremost centres for Chinese art. A businessman, philanthropist and director of the World’s Columbian Exposition, he assembled an extensive collection of Qing imperial porcelain, with a particular interest in the refined monochrome and enamelled wares of the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns. Following his death in 1941, more than 300 Chinese ceramics entered the Art Institute, where they were prominently displayed near the museum’s entrance. His collection of Japanese art was likewise bequeathed to Chicago’s Field Museum.

An exceptionally rare Qianlong famille rose vase demonstrates the refinement that defined Schwab’s collection. Distinguished by its paired chilong handles, the decoration weaves together peaches, bats, lotus and lingzhi fungus into an intricate visual language of longevity, prosperity and joy. Every decorative element carries symbolic meaning, yet the vase is equally remarkable for its technical accomplishment, revealing the extraordinary precision of the imperial kilns. A reticulated ‘five poisons’ dish offers a different expression of that virtuosity, combining daring pierced construction, in which a ring of large circular holes removes nearly half of the porcelain body, with imagery associated with the Duanwu Festival and its traditions of protection and renewal.

Russell Tyson (1867–1963)

Born in Shanghai, Russell Tyson devoted much of his life to advancing the study and appreciation of Asian art in Chicago. A trustee, honorary vice president and member of the Department of Asian Art’s advisory committee, he was instrumental in shaping the Art Institute’s collection, co-founding the scholarly patron group ‘The Orientals’ in 1922 to support the museum’s efforts in the field. Although his interests ranged from Korean ceramics to Indian painting, Chinese ceramics remained his greatest passion. Dedicated in 1958, the Russell Tyson Gallery continues to house the museum’s permanent display of Tang dynasty art.

A Yongzheng famille rose ‘bats and peaches’ bowl exemplifies the painterly sophistication Tyson admired. Its flowering branch extends seamlessly from the exterior over the rim into the interior, an ambitious decorative scheme known as guoqiangzhi (branch passing over the wall). The design also unfolds as a sophisticated network of rebuses: peaches evoke longevity, five red bats invoke the Five Blessings, and the flowering branch itself carries a homophonic wish for lasting peace and good government (guo chang zhi). These layered motifs suggest the bowl was created to celebrate an imperial birthday.

Stanley Herzman (1906–2001)

Stanley Herzman’s fascination with Chinese ceramics was rooted in firsthand experience. Born in Chicago, the textile manufacturer first encountered Chinese works of art while operating an embroidery business in Shantou. Over the following half-century, he assembled an exceptional collection spanning the Tang to Qing dynasties, with a particular emphasis on Ming blue-and-white porcelains. In 1997, Herzman donated a significant portion of his collection to the Art Institute. His gifts also form important holdings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum.

A large Yongle blue-and-white ‘floral scroll’ dish reflects Herzman’s affinity for Ming porcelain. Produced during one of the defining periods of early Ming imperial ceramic production, it is decorated in brilliant cobalt blue. Its rich cobalt decoration and refined craftsmanship exemplify the technical achievements for which Yongle porcelains have long been prized.

Dorothy Braude Edinburg (1920–2015)

Inspired by parents who filled their Boston home with 18th-century French furniture, Chinese porcelain and livres d’artistes, Dorothy Braude Edinburg began collecting Chinese art while studying art history in college. Over the following six decades, her interests expanded to encompass Tang and Song ceramics alongside an exceptional collection of prints and drawings. After establishing a relationship with the Art Institute in 1991, Edinburg gradually transformed her private collection into a public one, donating more than 1,500 works across the museum’s Prints and Drawings and Asian Art departments before leaving the museum a $35 million acquisitions fund — the largest monetary gift in the museum’s history.

A carved and moulded celadon ‘bat and peach’ vase echoes the breadth of Edinburg’s collecting, which ranged across centuries of Chinese ceramic production. Its soft grey-green celadon glaze was created by applying an iron-rich slip before firing, producing the luminous surface for which the ware is celebrated. The glazing technique originated in ancient China and remained one of the country’s most enduring ceramic achievements. The carved bats and peaches — traditional emblems of blessings and longevity — lend the vase an added layer of auspicious meaning.