Cong (small, squared tube)

Resources for provenance research into non-Western art are not as complete or prevalent as are those for Nazi-looted art. Fortunately, a good database for Chinese art and artifacts is Chinese Art—Research into Provenance (CARP), created and managed by the University of Glasgow. The Smithsonian Institution and their Asian art museum, the Freer and Sackler Galleries, are currently working with the developer of CARP to create a database that will complement and supplement already existing resources. It was through CARP that the collector was identified as Abel William Bahr, a Chinese-born coal merchant and collector of Chinese art. (“This is no Less Curious: Journeys through the Collection” cocurated by Sonja Gandert, Alexandra Palmer, and Alana Ryder and presented at the Johnson Museum January 24 – April 12, 2015)