Vase, one of a pair with F1982.22

From at least 1929
Emil (1870-1948) and Jenny Baerwald, Berlin, from at least January 1929 [1]

To 1938
Paul Baerwald (1871-1961), New York, acquired from Emil Baerwald [2]

1937
Sale, John Sparks, London, "Chinese Works of Art: An Exhibition of the Paul Baerwald Collection of Chinese Porcelain,” June 15 – July 3, 1937, lot 46 (ill.): “Large, fine porcelain vase…Kangshi period” [3]

From 1938 to 1945
Myron S. Falk Sr. (1878-1945), Greenwich, Connecticut, bought from Paul Baerwald on March 21, 1938 [4]

From 1945 to 1982
Mr. Myron S. Falk Jr. (1906-1992) and Mrs. Pauline Baerwald Falk (1910-2000), New York, by descent from Myron S. Falk Sr. [5]

From 1982
Freer Gallery of Art, given by Mr. Myron S. Falk Jr. and Mrs. Pauline Baerwald Falk in 1982

Notes:

[1] Emil Baerwald, a German-Jewish collector of Chinese porcelain, lent the vase to the Exhibition of Chinese Art in Berlin in 1929, see Austellung Chinesischer Kunst Veranstaltet von der Gesellschaft für Ostasiatische Kunst und der Preussischen Akademie der Künste Berlin, exh. cat. (Berlin, January 2 - April 2, 1929), p. 301, cat. 805 (ill.).

[2] The collection of the Chinese porcelain assembled by Emil Baerwald at some point in the course of the 1930s changed hands and became the property of Emil’s brother, Paul Baerwald. Paul Baerwald resided in New York while the collection remained in Europe and was shipped to London in 1937. Emil may have transferred the collection to his brother as a settlement for his debt, see Patricia Baerwald Falk’s handwritten note attached to a copy of the 1937 Paul Baerwald Sale catalogue, cited in note 3. See also correspondence between the brothers dated to 1937, confirming that the transfer of the ownership had taken place by that date, in Pauline B. and Myron S. Falk, Jr. Papers, Freer|Sackler Archives.

[3] Chinese Works of Art: An Exhibition of the Paul Baerwald Collection of Chinese Porcelain: Rare Monochromes, Blue and White, and other Porcelains of the Sung, Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, sale cat. (London, John Sparks, June 15 – July 3, 1937), lot 46. The vase remained unsold.

[4] See List of items in the Paul Baerwald collection sold after the 1937 Sale, where the vase is included under no. 46 and the date of sale is indicated as March 21, 1938, in unnumbered Folder, Series 3: Collection, Pauline B. and Myron S. Falk, Jr. Papers, F|S Archives. See also R. Chait to P. Baerwald, March 21, 1938, Box 25, Folder 39, Series 2: Correspondence, Pauline B. and Myron S. Falk, Jr. Papers, Freer and Sackler Archives.

[5] Myron S. Falk Jr. and his wife Pauline were gifted the blue-and-white porcelains from Myron S. Falk Sr.’s collection in 1938. Together with Mildred Falk, they inherited the remainder of the collection of Chinese ceramics upon Falk Sr.’s death.