The J.T. Tai & Co. Papers

Scope and Contents

This collection consists mainly of the stock records of J.T. Tai & Co. The majority of stock records are organized by stock number in four series: YT numbers, A numbers, CT numbers, and JT numbers. Stock records for objects sold to buyers who did significant business with J.T. Tai & Co. were often removed to binders dedicated to that purchaser. Series two consists of these binders. Consignment records document objects consigned to J.T. Tai & Co., both sold and returned to owners. Series four through six (Sales Slips, Conservation Records, and Photographs) are small groupings of limited materials. Sales slips document sales by J.T. Tai & Co. in chronological order. Each line-item records date, buyer, brief description, stock number, and price of a sale. Conservation Records document conservation work J.T. Tai commissioned or facilitated, typically through correspondence. The photographs provide visual documentation of stone sculptures.

Arrangement

Arranged in six series: Series 1: Stock Records, Series 2: Collector & Institution Binders, Series 3: Consignment, Series 4: Sales Slips, Series 5: Conservation Records, and Series 6: Photographs.

Biographical / Historical

TAI Jun Tsei (Dai Runzhai 戴潤齋 1911–1992; born Dai Fubao), or J.T. Tai as he was known in the West, was an incredibly important dealer in Chinese antiquities who shaped American collections of Chinese art throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Indeed, he ranks second only to C.T. Loo in defining the meaning of Chinese art for Western institutions and scholars alike.

Tai began his career at his uncle's small antique store in Wuxi, China. Between 1945 and 1949, Tai regularly sold antiquities sourced in rural China to Lu Wu Antiques Company, an export company that C.T. Loo operated with Wu Qizhou. Lu Wu Antiques exclusively supplied Loo's western business, C.T. Loo & Company with galleries in Paris and New York. Upon the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the government attempted to arrest J.T. Tai for illegally exporting objects. Coming very close to being captured, he and his wife, Pingying Tai (1915–1998), escaped dramatically to Hong Kong, where they slowly reclaimed Mr. Tai's collection from Shanghai. In early 1950, Tai immigrated to New York City with the help of C.T. Loo and established himself as an independent dealer by the fall of 1950. Tai's business flourished and he played an instrumental role in shaping several American collections of Chinese art, Avery Brundage and Arthur M. Sackler were his most important clients. Upon Tai's death in 1992, J.T. Tai & Company ceased doing business.