Provenance Information

Purchased by Mr. James W. Alsdorf, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. The exact date that Mr. Alsdorf purchased this object is unknown; however, Mr. Alsdorf acquired the object before his death in 1990. Attempts to determine from whom Mr. Alsdorf acquired the object were unsuccessful. Mrs. Marilynn Alsdorf publicly promised the object to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997, signed a promised gift agreement for the object in 2002, and gave the object to the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016.

Exhibition Information

A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (August 2 – October 26, 1997).

The object has been displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, in the Alsdorf Galleries of Indian, Southeast Asian, Himalayan and Islamic Art, from December 2008 to the present.

Publication Information

Pal, Pratapaditya with contributions by Stephen Little, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago in association with Thames and Hudson, New York, (1997), p. 284: cat. 55 and plate p. 51.

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

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Cumulative facts and circumstances.
Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008.
This acquisition falls within two exceptions. First, the cumulative facts and circumstances known to the Art Institute of Chicago at the time of the acquisition allowed it to make an informed judgment to acquire the object. The exact date that Mr. Alsdorf purchased this object is unknown, but Mr. Alsdorf acquired this object before his death in 1990. The object has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago since December 2008 and exhibited and published in a major catalogue of South Asian art: A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection (1997). In addition, the acquisition furthers the representation of the artistic achievements of all civilizations in art museums because it is a rare early example of the Hindu god Ganesha from the pre-Khmer period.
Second, the acquisition of the object was by gift and the object was promised to the Art Insitute prior to 2008. Mrs Alsdorf publicly promised the object to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997 and thereafter signed a promised gift agreement for the object in 2002.

Provenance Information

This sculpture is part of a group of sculptures shipped from Vietnam to France in 1877. The vessel carrying the sculptures sank off the coast of Somalia. The sculptures were salvaged from the ocean floor in 1995 and sold at public auction in 2000.

Exhibition Information

None that the museum is aware of

Publication Information

None that the museum is aware of

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

This sculpture is part of a group of sculptures shipped from Vietnam to France in 1877. The vessel carrying the sculptures sank off the coast of Somalia. The sculptures were salvaged from the ocean floor in 1995 and sold at public auction in 2000.

Provenance Information

This sculpture is part of a group of sculptures shipped from Vietnam to France in 1877. The vessel carrying the sculptures sank off the coast of Somalia. The sculptures were salvaged from the ocean floor in 1995 and sold at public auction in 2000.

Exhibition Information

None that the museum is aware of

Publication Information

None that the museum is aware of

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

This sculpture is part of a group of sculptures shipped from Vietnam to France in 1877. The vessel carrying the sculptures sank off the coast of Somalia. The sculptures were salvaged from the ocean floor in 1995 and sold at public auction in 2000.

Provenance Information

Possibly 1970s - 2008 collection of Joan Dunham Chalfant (d. 2008) and Richard David Chalfant, Chicago; 2008 estate of Joan Dunham Chalfant; 2008 collection of Richard David Chalfant, Chicago (acquired through inheritance); 2008 Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (gift of Richard David Chalfant)

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

Dunham & Chalfant. (no title) [a sale cat.] (Chicago: Dunham & Chalfant, [possibly 1970s]); ref. n.p., b&w illus. n.p.

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

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Provenance for this work is established to before 2008, when it was given to the museum by the donor. It was published in a sale catalog by the donor sometime in the 1970s, a copy of which is on file at the museum.

Provenance Information

Peter and Paula Lunder Thomas Colville Fine Art, New Haven, CT. P.C. Lu Works of Art Limited, Hong Kong

Exhibition Information

Spaces & Places: Chinese Art from the Lunder-Colville Collection and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Colby College Museum of Art Waterville, ME July 13, 2013 - June 8, 2014

Publication Information

The Lunder Collection: A Gift of Art to Colby College, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville Maine. 2013. pg 34-35.

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The donors pledged part of the their collection, including this object, to the museum prior to 2008, as per correspondence dated April 11, 2007, on file.

Provenance Information

By 1975, Henri Smeets, Weert, The Netherlands; November 7, 1977, Smeets sale, Sotheby’s, London, lot 116. December 5, 2007, anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 47. By 2008, Rupert Wace Ancient Art, Ltd., London; 2013, sold by Rupert Wace to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 25, 2013)

Exhibition Information

The European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht, The Netherlands (2012).

Publication Information

Eric Godet et al., A Private Collection (Weert, The Netherlands, 1975), n. p., cat. 176 (“Worshipper”), ill.

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

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Prior to purchasing the figure, the MFA wrote to the Department of Antiquities in Cyprus, and received a response on May 31, 2013 stating that the office raised no objections to its acquisition.

While it is not documented where and when collector Henri Smeets acquired this particular piece, other objects in his collection were purchased on the European art market in the 1960s and early 1970s. He may well have acquired it at a similar time and place.

Provenance Information

1981, unknown art gallery, Lugano, Switzerland; December 10, 1981, anonymous sale (consigned by the Lugano gallery), Christie's, London, lot 230. Private collection, Madrid; sold from this private collection to a private collector; June 10, 2010, anonymous (private collector) sale, Christie's, New York, lot 54, to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 22, 2010)

Exhibition Information

None known.

Publication Information

None known.

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

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This sculpture can be documented in the hands of a dealer in Switzerland in 1981, indicating that it was out of Egypt before 1983, when Egypt's Law of the Protection of Antiquities went into effect.

Provenance Information

Acquired by donor from Amadou Thiam Gallery, of Dakar, Paris, and Los Angeles around 1995. Thiam claims to have given the donor relevant export documents but the donor's recent health issues have made searching for these documents difficult. The donors sister found a file with the required documentation but these appear to be for a different piece. The dealer has likewise been unable to find copies in any of the three locations. The donor long ago promised the DIA the pick of her collection.

Exhibition Information

Work has been on view at the museum since the grand opening of 2007, when it was placed on view in the renovated African galleries.

Publication Information

No known information

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work was verbally promised to the DIA at the grand opening of the remodelled museum in 2007 when the piece went on view with the reinstalled African galleries.

Provenance Information

Acquired in the mid-199o by donors from Paris-based dealer, Alain de Monbrisson. Montbrisson asserts that he has no export papers because he bought the piece from another (unspecified) Paris dealer. T

Exhibition Information

No known information

Publication Information

No known information

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work was verbally promised to the DIA at the grand opening of the remodelled museum in 2007 when the piece went on view with the reinstalled African galleries.

Provenance Information

Sonam Tashi, Kathmandu, Nepal [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; John and Berthe Ford, Baltimore, 1984, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 2021, by gift.

Exhibition Information

"2023 Jphn & Berthe Ford Gallery, The Walters Art Museum
2001-2003 Desire and Devotion: Art from India, Nepal, and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong."

Publication Information

Pal, Pratapaditya. Desire and Devotion : Art From India, Nepal, and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection. Baltimore, Md. : Walters Art Museum ; London : Philip Wilson. 2001, Cat. 114.

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Walters Art Museum and John and Berthe Ford about this promised gift was signed September 1997. It was brought onsite to the Walters as a long-term loan in 2001.