Imperial reciclage - A forgotten gui vessel in the Chinese art collection of the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal

The collection of Chinese art in the MMFA is one of the oldest in North America. it holds more than 5000 artefacts from China and Japan, second only to the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. It provides a comprehensive picture on some important Asian art issues but also reflects the collective `craze` for Asia experienced by Montréal in the early 20th century. The collection can be singled out not only for the breadth and quality of the pieces but also for its significance for the history of the city and the development of museums in Canada.

It was during the golden age of the Art Association, from 1912 to 1947 that the first Asian “objets d’art” came to be incorporated. In November 1916 the Council created a Museum section to establish a collection of antiques and modern decorative works, including “all objects tending to the education of the designer and worker”. Just a few weeks earlier, in a small gallery, Cleveland Morgan had organised the first exhibition of Oriental rugs and Chinese vases that created a stir among the public. As a consequence, he was asked to develop the Museum Section. That was a major turning point in the history of what became the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. He and his network of wealthy collectors managed to create a real impetus, almost a collective frenzy.  From that time onwards, following the trend of major American institutions, some wealthy benefactors, including Mabel Molson, William Van Horne and Cleveland Morgan among others, collected and subsequently donated Asian works of art to the museum. The latter in particular had a major influence in the character and taste of MMFA Chinese collection. Among the many archaeological relics that he acquired for the museum, stands an interesting bronze gui vessel datable to the early Western Zhou period, which offers a fascinating story on fluctuating aesthetic values and changes of fruition in art in China and the West.