A database for provenance research of Chinese works of art, piloting the Burrell Collection

The outcome of the project is a compilation of sources for provenance research of Chinese works of art, for use by institutions and researchers. Using The Burrell Collection in Glasgow as a pilot, the project documents records relating to dealers and collectors who specialised in Chinese art during the first half of the twentieth century.

The Burrell Collection can be seen as a paradigm for the collecting of Chinese art during the early twentieth century. Not only is the Collection representative of the collecting pattern of western collectors of the period but there are full records of William Burrell’s (1861-1958) purchases which can be traced back to previous owners and to a number of major dealers whose archives still exist and which are accessible. The project sought to test the feasibility and methodology for creating a computerised database of information for establishing provenance first by identifying records, archives and published material and accessing information relevant to each work of art. Although a number of archival sources were known at the outset, others were not, nor were their contents. A successful outcome was not therefore guaranteed. The Project was able to source surviving archival records of dealers John Sparks, Frank Partridge and Bluetts, as well as the records of Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses.

Testing the idea by using a well-documented collection will hopefully create the potential for a national database of immediate value as a resource for provenance research including spoliation work, academic study and teaching in the history of taste and collecting and the art trade.