Lot Essay
Alice Boney (1901-1988), the renowned New York Chinese antique collector and dealer of the 1950s, started her career in 1924. At the young age of 22, Alice Boney and her newly married husband opened Jan Kleykamp Gallery, the first gallery in New York City selling Chinese art. By 1982, Jan Kleykamp Gallery had developed into a salon for important Chinese art collectors in the United States. Ms. Boney exerted great influence on many famous Chinese art collectors and dealers, including Florence and Herbert Irving, Robert H. Ellsworth and Giuseppe Eskenazi. Thanks to the efforts of Ms. Boney and her Jan Kleykamp Gallery, collecting Chinese art became fashionable in America. Ms. Boney's support in Chinese art also resulted in Chinese paintings and calligraphy exhibitions in different cities in the United States in the 1950's.