Lion Head

Object Details

Provenance

From at least 1935 to 1942

C. T. Loo & Co., Paris and New York, from at least June 14, 1935 [1]

From 1942 to 1951

Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964), Ascona, Switzerland, purchased from C. T. Loo on August 27, 1942 and lent to the Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo, New York [2]

1951

US Government vested Eduard von der Heydt's property under the provisions of "Trading with the Enemy Act" by vesting order, dated August 21, 1951 [3]

From 1964 to 1973

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, from March 1964 [4]

From 1973

Freer Gallery of Art, transferred from National Museum of Natural History in 1973 [5]

Notes:

[1] The sculpture was exhibited by C. T. Loo in his gallery in Paris in 1935, see C. T. Loo & Cie., Exposition de sculptures et bronzes anciens de L'Inde, exh. cat. (Paris: C. T. Loo & Cie., June 15-July 31, 1935), cat. 6, pl. 3.

In June 1936 the sculpture was sent by Loo for purchase consideration to St. Louis City Art Museum, see C. T. Loo's stockcard no. J-216: "Large stone head of a lion on a marble base Amaravati. 2nd A.D.," C. T. Loo & Frank Caro Archive, Musée Guimet, Paris, copy in object file.

In 1939 Loo included the sculpture in an exhibition at Vassar College Art Gallery, see Sculpture of India: Eliza Buffington Memorial Exhibition, exh. cat. (Poughkeepsie: Vassar College Art Gallery, April 12-May 12, 1939), cat. 9, pl. 3. Chauncey Hamlin in a letter to Eduard von der Heydt cited Alfred Salmony's statement according to which the sculpture previously belonged to the lot acquired by Gabriel Jonveau-Dubreuil (1885-1945) when he lived in Madras, India, see Hamlin to von der Heydt, August 28, 1942, Chauncey Hamlin Papers, Buffalo Museum of Art.

[2] See Loo's stockcard cited in note 1.

According to an annotation on the stockcard, the sculpture was sent to Buffalo on July 30, 1942 and sold to von der Heydt on August 27, 1942.

See also "Catalogue of the Von der Heydt Loan to the Buffalo Museum of Science: Loan Material from Baron Von der Heydt, as of March 1949," where the object is documented under an inventory card no. 42131, copy in object file. The inventory card provides September 8, 1943 as an acquisition date.

[3] See Vesting Order No. 18344, August 21, 1951, Office of Alien Property, Department of Justice.

Eduard von der Heydt exhausted all the legal remedies against the forfeiture of his property provided to him by the Trading with the Enemy Act.

[4] Attorney General, Robert Kennedy authorized transfer of the von der Heydt collection from Buffalo Museum of Science to the custody of the Smithsonian Institution in March 1964. The collection was transferred to the National Museum of Natural History.

In 1966 US Congress legislated transferring the title of the von der Heydt collection to the Smithsonian Institution, see Public Law 89-503, 80 Stat. 287, July 18, 1966. The object was accessioned under no. 448110, see "Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Accession Data," copy in object file.

[5] The sculpture was among 13 objects in the von der Heydt collection transferred from National Museum of Natural History to the Freer Gallery of Art, see "Smithsonian Institution Intramural Transfer of Specimens" memorandum, dated January 29, 1973, copy in object file.

The sculpture was accessioned to the Freer Gallery Study Collection under no. FSC-S-14 and subsequently transferred to the permanent collection in August 1978.

Collection

Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Exhibition History

Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas (October 16, 2004 to January 3, 2016)

Hindu and Buddhist Art (January 28, 1981 to September 24, 1981)

Previous custodian or owner

Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil (French, 1885-1945)

C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)

Baron Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964)

National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution

Credit Line

Transfer from the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

2nd century

Period

Satavahana dynasty

Accession Number

F1978.34

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Sculpture

Medium

Limestone, probably referred to as marble

Dimensions

H x W x D (overall): 52 x 28 x 38 cm (20 1/2 x 11 x 14 15/16 in)

Origin

Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh state, India

Related Online Resources

Google Cultural Institute

See more items in

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Topic

stone

lion

Satavahana dynasty (1st century BCE - 299 CE)

India

South Asian and Himalayan Art

Record ID

fsg_F1978.34

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye341703dd8-cd13-4df3-995c-b5efe9cc41e0