Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919) was one of the most influential American industrialists and art collectors of the early twentieth century. In 1906, he donated his remarkable collection of Asian art to the United States, laying the foundation for what would become the Freer Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian Institution. With the later establishment of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in 1982, the two institutions were jointly named the National Museum of Asian Art. Over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, these galleries have played a decisive role in shaping the collecting, study, and public presentation of Asian art in the United States.Freer’s engagement with China was both sustained and deeply personal. During the late Qing dynasty, he traveled to China on four occasions, acquiring a substantial number of artworks and cultural relics while immersing himself in the study of Chinese history, material culture, and aesthetics. His journey of 1910–1911 proved the most significant of his five visits to Asia. Concentrating on Kaifeng, Gongxian, Luoyang, and Hangzhou, Freer documented historic sites with the assistance of professional photographers, including Zhou Yutai, who produced high-quality dry-plate photographs of monuments, temples, sculptures, and landscapes.

Many of the sites recorded during this expedition have since been damaged, altered, or lost entirely. Structures such as Kaifeng’s Wolong Palace and Erzeng Temple, as well as Hangzhou’s Zhusu Garden, no longer exist. Major works, including the Northern Wei relief of the Emperor and Empress Worshipping Buddha in the Binyang Central Cave at Longmen, were later looted. Other landmarks, such as Su Xiaoxiao’s Tomb and the Yue Wang Temple, survive only in modified form. Preserved in the Freer Gallery archives, the 234 photographs reproduced in this volume capture these sites as they appeared in the late Qing period and constitute rare, irreplaceable historical records.

Old Photographs of Splendid Treasures: Freer's View of Chinese Cultural Heritage in 1910-1911 presents these photographs in four thematic sections corresponding to Freer’s travels. Each site is contextualized through historical research, contemporary photographic comparisons, and, where relevant, architectural measurements, offering readers a vivid and layered understanding of China’s cultural heritage across time.

Fully illustrated with black & white photots, text in Chinese.

2019, Cultural Relics Press, hardcover, 335 pp., as new.