FAMED ART COLLECTION

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1935, Page 7

FAMED ART COLLECTION

BRITISH MUSEUMS’ GAIN EUMORFOPOULOS CURIOS CHINA AND THE FAR EAST RIDICULOUSLY LOW PRICE

British Wireless. Rugby, Jan. 2. The famous Eumorfopoulos collection of Chinese and Far Eastern works of art has been acquired for the nation by the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum jointly. This collection, which is one of the most extensive of its kind, is celebrated throughout the world for the quality and rarity of its specimens. Sculptures, metalwork, jades, silver and glass, ivories, lacquer, paintings, pottery and porcelain are all included, and whole groups are represented, of which the national collections until now contained few or no examples. The total price for which the collection was offered is £lOO,OOO, and the preliminary payment of nearly half the sum will be made in a few days. The collection will be exhibited as soon as possible, and loans from it later will be available for leading museums outside London. Helpful contributions towards the initial payment have been received from the National Art Collections Fund, Sir Percival David and the Universities’ China Committee. The collection represents 30 years’ work by Mr. George Eumorfopoulos, F.S.A., a member of a firm of Greek merchant bankers, Ralli Bros., Ltd., who lives at London and was bom at Liverpool 71 years ago. “Judged by its value,” the Manchester Guardian says, “the sum of £lOO,OOO is so ridiculous that the sale becomes a princely gesture.” The Times describes the collection as literally priceless, and says that Mr. Eumorfopoulos in allowing it to be bought at such a figure ranks as a great benefactor to national museums.