The Wellington and Juliana Koo Collection of Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy

The Wellington and Juliana Koo Collection of Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy

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  Dr Wellington Koo at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919.

  Dr Vi-kyuin Wellington Koo was one of China’s most distinguished diplomats of modern times. He was born in 1888 in Shanghai, at a time of domestic and international strife. From an early age, he witnessed the suffering and humiliation that was inflicted upon his countrymen and was determined to pursue a career in diplomacy with a mission to restore China’s lost territorial rights. In 1912, upon completion of his PhD in international law and diplomacy from Columbia University at only 24 years old, he returned to China to serve as secretary to Yuan Shikai, the first president of the Republic of China.
  
  
  
   
  
  

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  Dr Koo at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919.

  In 1918, Dr Koo was sent to Paris as a delegate on behalf of China at the Paris Peace Conference. On 28 January 1919, he fought for the return of Shandong to China by delivering an eloquent speech defending China’s sovereignty over the province and, later, on 28 June, he refused to sign the unequal Treaty of Versailles.
  
  
  
   
  
  

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  Zhang Daqian, Lonely Scholar on a Boat. Estimate $120,000–160,000.

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  Dr Koo with Queen Mother Mary as she visited the Chinese embassy, 1944.

  During World War II, Dr Koo served as ambassador to France (1936–41) and to Great Britain (1941–46). He negotiated with the UK on a loan of £50 million to China and played a major role in the signing of the Sino-British Treaty of 1943, which abolished the extraterritoriality enjoyed by Britain in China.
  
  

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  Zeng Guofan, Su Shi’s Poems in Running Script. Estimate $60,000–80,000.

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  Dr Koo with other representatives from the Chinese government at the United Nations, 1945.

  In 1945, Dr Koo attended the UN Conference in San Francisco and signed the UN Charter on behalf of China. He was later appointed as the Chinese representative to the first General Assembly of the United Nations.
  
  

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  Dr Koo in his court dress.

  In 1956, Dr Koo was elected a member of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.
  
  

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  Feng Chaoran, Misty Landscape with Pines. Estimate $10,000–15,000.

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  Dr Koo and Mrs Juliana Young (née Yen Yu-yun) on their wedding day, 3 September 1959, with Ambassador CT Feng.

  Mrs Juliana Young Koo, the granddaughter of Yan Xinhou (previously advisor to Prime Minister Li Hongzhang), was one of the first women to graduate from Fudan University. She was a Protocol Officer in the UN Department of Protocol and Liaison for thirteen years before she married Dr Koo. Mrs Koo was a supercentenarian and lived to the advanced age of 111 years old. In 2009, she published her autobiography, My Story, written with her daughter Genevieve Young. This was updated and released in English in 2015 as 109 Springtimes.
  
  

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  Zhu Bing, Flowers and Rocks. Estimate $5,000–7,000.

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  Dr and Mrs Koo skiing in Austria, 1960.

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  Tang Yiying, Landscape with Pavilion. Estimate $4,000–6,000.

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  Dr Koo (ninth from the left) serving next to the President of the International Court of Justice.

  Dr Koo was elected Vice President of the International Court of Justice in 1964. He retired from the Court in 1967, and he and Mrs Koo moved back to New York City. Appointed Senior Adviser to the Republic of China, he had no official duties there but spent much time on completing his oral history, a project initiated by Columbia University. On 14 November 1985, Dr Koo passed away peacefully at home. He was 98 years old. Wellington Koo served his country for more than 70 years, and his devotion to the rights of the Chinese people and to the cause of international justice has made him a legendary figure in the history of modern China.
  
  

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  Chen Lifu and Sui Luqing, Landscape with Trees. Estimate $2,000–4,000.

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  Mrs Koo with Tung Chee Hwa, later the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

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  Huang Shen, Seeking Plum Blossom. Estimate $60,000–80,000.

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  Mrs Koo with Zhang Xueliang, the Young Marshal, after his release from confinement in Taiwan, New York 1991.

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  Attributed to Li Zhaodao, Pavilions Among Misty and Lofty Mountain. Estimate $6,000–8,000.

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  President Gerald Ford, Mrs Koo, Mrs Ford and Ms Koo's son-in-law, Oscar Tang.

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  Xie Shoukang, Pang Zengying, Tan Duan, Bamboo, Trees and Rock, Wisteria. Estimate $1,000–2,000.

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  Mrs Koo and her daughters, Genevieve Young (left) and Shirley Young (right), with Madame Chiang Kai-shek (seated) on the occasion of Madame Chiang's 100th birthday.

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