Chester Beatty and his Chinese collections: representing and exchanging cultures and value in the early 20th Century
Du Siyi (Trinity College Dublin)
In 1917, when Chester Beatty took his journey to Eastern Asia, he already had some of his Chinese collections such as snuff bottles and jade. These items were traded through buyers or experts, and then Beatty himself made the final decision. In the late Qing period, some Chinese realised the existence of an international collectors’ market. Such collections not only represented an image of China in westerners’ eyes, but also reflected what Chinese, or the previous owners of these Chinese artefacts, considered to be Western taste and value in art. Chester Beatty’s Chinese collections delivered a selectively presented Chinese culture, with items which were believed to be the most beautiful and valuable objects from China in the eyes of a Western man from the early twentieth century. Today, the Chester Beatty Library presents this part of Chinese culture to all visitors to Dublin, including overseas Chinese who want to have a look at the ‘missing’ part of Chinese culture and traditions. Hence, the exchange of cultures and value through Chester Beatty’s Chinese collections continues to this day.