Frick, a Pittsburgh coal and steel industrialist, amassed large holdings of late-17th- and early-18th-century Oriental porcelains and bought rare examples of Sèvres porcelain.
Instead he amassed large holdings of late-17th- and early-18th-century Oriental porcelains and bought rare examples of Sèvres porcelain, which can be seen throughout the museum, his former home.
The whole gamut is here, from slender fish chopstick rests at 75 cents apiece to rustic bowls at $7 to superb examples of modern porcelain in the hundreds of dollars.
The Frick has now disclosed that the donor is the New Yorker Henry H. Arnhold, who has promised 131 examples of Meissen porcelain.
"Examples of Meissen porcelain from this period are particularly rare and have always been highly sought after," the museum said in a statement, adding that the new glass-enclosed galleries will give the Frick for the first time "the opportunity to display porcelain and sculpture in bronze, marble, and terra cotta in a truly appropriate and well-illuminated space".
The best known example of Yuan porcelain decorated in this manner, which is usually referred to as blue-and-white, is a pair of vases in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art in London.
Fine examples of pottery and porcelain have always commanded high prices, which have, in turn, encouraged the making of forgeries and reproductions.
Example for porcelain use a porcelain slip, for stoneware use stoneware slip.
While collectors like the cosmetics heir Ronald S. Lauder and Sotheby's vice chairman Charles Moffett have purchased examples of Mr. de Waal's porcelain, there has never been an exhibition of his work in the United States.
There are also collections of Dvaravati and Khmer sculpture, in addition to examples of Thai and Chinese pottery and porcelain.
