The remarkable collection of the Imperial Prince Kung of China
This is a 1913 New York auction catalogue from the American Art Association, reproducing photographs of bronze vessels formerly owned by Charles Lang Freer and linked to the collection of Prince Kung of China. The plates are plain studio photographs for buyers and collectors of Chinese antiquities. A designer might take their dark patinated bronze surfaces, cast relief bands and rigid vessel silhouettes against pale cream backgrounds as a model for monochrome ornament and museum-style product photography.
