James Cahill dies at 87; scholar of Chinese art

8.Beginnings Of Collecting

8. Beginnings of Collecting. Answering question from Howard:

Yes, I frequented antique shops in Seoul; before that, in Japan (1946), I had begun to collect Japanese prints. In Korea I bought three "Sung" album leaves, two of them signed by Li Ti and Chao Po-chu ("Ch'ien-li.") So I found a copy of the old Siren in a local library, looked these up, came to believe I had acquired genuine works of great Chinese artists, began reading more--etc. Back in Berkeley I studied with Otto Maenchen, a philologist who didn't like art and taught that way. He didn't kill my interest altogether, and I went on reading and learning. As I was about to get the BA, Ed Schafer, who knew about my strong interest in Chinese art, pointed out to me in the back pages of a JAOS the announcement of a "Hackney Scholarship" which had been open for several years with no takers. I applied, got it, etc. Actually, I was thinking of trying to go on to become a translator of Japanese literature; I was going to do Heike Monoga tari as Waley had done Genji. That scholarship did it. As for collecting seriously: that started during my Fulbright year in Japan, 1954-55, when an old Chinese literature professor could buy really good Ch ptgs without having any money to speak of. Chao Tso scroll for equivalent of $75, Wu Wei scroll for $150, Lo P'ing "Farewell to I-an" for about $200, as I remember. (The Wu Wei was from the Yushima Seido, also a great source for cheap paintings, as you remember.)

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