Provenance Information

Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, by 1972; purchase by Alan R. Brodie, Chicago, Illinois May 8, 1972; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 2012.

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Based on the results of provenance research, the Art Institute of Chicago can make an informed judgment that the object was outside its probable country of modern discovery before 1970. Alan Brodie, the former owner, maintained file cards with detailed notes on each of his art acquisitions. Each card was apparently initiated when the object was first acquired and then additional notes seem to have been added contemporaneously, as information about the object became available. According to the card for these objects, which is in the curator's files, Mr. Brodie acquired them from the Richard Gray Gallery on May 8, 1972. By fax dated January 13, 2012, the Gray Gallery confirmed that, at that time of Mr. Brodie's purchase, the gallery often sold pre-Columbian objects on a consignment basis for Andre Emmerich, Inc. (New York, New York). The fax included a copy of an invoice dated May 15, 1972 that referenced a payment due to Andre Emmerich, Inc. for a "Pair of Maya vases." The Gray Gallery believes this invoice is for the consignment payment due to Andre Emmerich, Inc. after the sale of these objects to Mr. Brodie. The gallery does not have the invoice for the sale to Mr. Brodie. Andre Emmerich, Inc. is no longer in business and we have been unable to determine when or from whom it acquired the objects. Presumably, however, first Andre Emmerich, Inc. and then the Richard Gray Gallery were in possession of the object for some period of time prior to May 8, 1972. The acquisition of these objects furthers the representation of the artistic achievements of all civilizations in art museums because they expand the scope of the Art Institute of Chicago's pre-Columbian holdings in a new direction.