C.T. Loo

C.T. Loo
C.T. Loo in the 1910s
Born	盧焕文 Lu Huanwen 1 February 1880 卢家渡 Lujiadu Zhejiang, China
Died	15 August 1957 (1957-08-16) (aged 77) Nyon, Switzerland
Other names	Ching Tsai Loo simplified Chinese: 卢芹斋; traditional Chinese: 盧芹齋; pinyin: Lú Qínzhāi
Occupation	Art dealer

Ching Tsai Loo, commonly known as C. T. Loo (Chinese: 盧芹齋; pinyin: Lú Qínzhāi; 1 February 1880 – August 15, 1957), was an art dealer of Chinese origin who maintained galleries in Paris and New York and supplied important pieces for collectors and American museums. He has been called "the preeminent dealer of Chinese art and artifacts for the first half of the twentieth century," but also criticized for his active role in removing antiques and archaeological treasures from China for sale to western collectors.

He was born Lu Huanwen in Lujiadu 卢家渡 (Lu Family Ford) a village in the Huzhou district of Zhejiang Province, some 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Shanghai. His family had lived in this single-surname village since the 10th century. Orphaned at age ten, he raised by his uncle, but he decided as a teenager to try his luck in Nanxun, a center of the silk trade. He did well working under Zhang Baoshan, a successful merchant, whose son, Zhang Renjie, was appointed to the Chinese Embassy in France. Loo accompanied Zhang to Paris in 1902 at the age of 22. Few Chinese were living in France at that time, but Zhang Renjie invited Loo to work as doorman at his teahouse and then in his family Chinese goods import business, the gallery Ton-ying, in the Place de la Madeleine. Zhang used his connections in China to obtain antiques and works of art for the company. On his return to China, Zhang became an early financial backer of Chiang Kai-shek.

When Loo arrived in Paris, he wore the traditional Chinese gown and sported a queue, but soon became a Parisian dandy. He thrived in Zhang's store but felt constrained. Profits were not reinvested but instead used for the anti-Manchu revolutionary activities of his boss, who subsidized a circle of Chinese philosophical anarchists. In 1908, Loo, now dressed in elegant Parisian fashion and calling himself Cheng-Tsai Loo (Lu Qin Zhai), opened his own store on Rue Taitbout under the name “Laiyuan and Company” with branches soon to open in Beijing and Shanghai. Loo realized that Westerners preferred later works such as Qing dynasty three-color porcelains, which could supply in good quantities because of the political ties he formed. A friend remarked on Loo's sources in China: "being in touch with important people... he was able to know of precious works of art which had been hidden from the storms of many revolutions."