Asian Works of Art Online

Said in Stone: Important Jade from the Dr. Mark Kozloff Collection, Chicago, Illinois

If you time it just right and take yourself on a stroll through Chicago’s center, you might be lucky to catch a glimpse of floppy-eared pup tugging at the other end of a leash patiently held by Dr. Mark Kolzoff—a slender, quiet man who might be first recognized as a physician and clinical researcher focused on developing treatments for adult cancers, who has also been quietly nurturing a passion for and  custodianship of fine Chinese jade.

Dr. Kozloff was drawn to the material in a chance encounter with the late Sam Bernstein, a collector and dealer based in downtown San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel. After exchanging several visits of curiosity-driven complimentary lessons in connoisseurship and collecting, the pair began a collaborative exchange of ideas and objects. Slowly, the collection was shaped by the gradual alchemy of Sam Bernstein’s expert guidance and Dr. Kozloff’s unpolluted tastes. For decades, it has been concealed within the doctor’s study, unincumbered by the whims of the market or its mercurial tastes. Indeed, the collection has been so hidden, that when the first catalog of the collection was published by Bernstein [privately, of course], aptly titled, Things Rarely Seen.

Therein, Dr. Kozloff writes that he was drawn to the nature of the stone, the manifold ways in which it could be worked, and the span of history from which objects could be acquired. Here, we are delighted to present a small selection of these treasures. Chiefly jades, along with a few accompanying pieces of pottery and porcelain that have stood guard by the stone for all these years, each lot represents the collector’s decades-long journey of close looking and reverence for the material, now prepared for departure into a new collector’s story.

玉中錄：柯洛夫醫生收藏

老一輩行家常說藏家多出於「三大名師」，即醫師、律師、會計師，幾于拍賣界「三大貨源」相對：即死亡、離婚和欠錢。這是「三師」財力的來源，也是收藏的動力。一買一賣，構成循環。早春得知柯洛夫醫生有意釋出手中玉器，於我們來説是意外之喜。他從來只買不賣，不在乎價錢也不求於聞達，所蓄之珍羅列書房，工作之餘把玩一番也就滿足，如此二十年。

柯醫生這種心態與他的職業息息相關。他是大腸直腸癌領域領先的醫學專家，在芝加哥大學醫學中心帶領百人團隊，專攻胃腸道腫瘤三十年，經手病例無數，活死人都看淡。柯醫生常説自己一生幸運，做醫生做到全世界問診，跑中國交流比我們這些中國專家還多。因为忙，他的收藏大多由玉器大行伯恩斯坦（Sam Bernstein）打理。伯恩斯坦的店開在舊金山史蹟费尔蒙酒店。到西海岸開會，住舊金山最古老的酒店，在伯恩斯坦店内幾天，買幾件心愛之物，是柯醫生每年的固定行程。直到疫情來臨，伯氏下世，柯醫生也步入晚年，這是我們能夠接手的原因。本次上拍的十餘件瓷玉，係書房中小件，試水趟路，與新主結緣。