Heber Reginald Bishop (Born March 2, 1840 - died December 10, 1902) was a noted businessman and philanthropist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His collections of art, especially his noted collection of jade, were donated to museums. "An industrialist and entrepreneur, Mr. Bishop was an active patron of the arts and a Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum during its formative years."[1]
Heber Bishop's family immigrated from Ipswich, England to the Massachusetts colony in 1685, settling in Medford, Massachusetts. Mr. Bishop was born there in 1840 and received a commercial education, until he moved to Remedios, Cuba at the age of 19 to begin work in the sugar business. Within two year he started a sugar refinery business there and began the Bishop & Company, which was sold in 1873 when he returned to the United States. He then invested in a number of banking firms, iron and steel companies, railroads, and western mining companies. He married Mary Cunningham, daughter of James Cunningham, and they had four daughters: Elizabeth, Harriet, Mary and Edith. An 1895 watercolor on ivory portrait of the four daughters is held by the New York Historical Society.[2]
The Bishop Jade Collection donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1902 included not only artistic pieces from China and Japan, but also selections from Mexico, Central America, the northwest coast of America, Swiss lake dwellings, France, Italy, New Zealand and elsewhere. It included a rare crystal of jadeite and a single mass of nephrite from Jordansmuhl, Silesia.
"The one thousand numbers included in the Bishop collection display first a mineralogical section in which samples of the minerals are shown from every known place where they may be found. An archaeological section presents specimens of implements, weapons and ornaments in which the material was wrought. The remainder of the collection embraces the art objects upon which the utmost resources of the glyptic art have been lavished. These have been gathered from China, India, Annam, Europe and New Zealand, and comprise every conceivable object of limpid beauty to which the material lends itself. Vases from China, with graceful lines, elegant shape, and patiently carved decoration; perfect boxes of soft sheen with jewelled decoration from India; and the modern work of Europe they all give the highest presentment of sensuous charm and artistry."[3]
An enormous catalog, edited by George Frederick Kunz in two volumes, was made of the collection.
THE specialists who contributed to the investigations on the subject of the book were as follows:— Dr. George Frederick Kunz in charge of the Mineralogical investigations, Archaeological articles and descriptions of the specimens catalogued. Dr. Stephen W. Bushell, C. M. G. (Chinese article and Chinese descriptions.) Dr. Robert Lilley, Editor of the volumes. Dr. William Hallock Adjunct Professor of Physics, Columbia University, New York. Dr. Samuel Lewis Penfield, M. A. Professor of Mineralogy, Yale University. Dr. Harry Ward Foote Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Yale University. Dr. Joseph Paxton Iddings Professor of Petrology, University of Chicago. Professor Frank Wigglesworth Clarke Chief Chemist, U. S. Geological Survey. Mr. Ira Harvey Woolson Adjunct Professor of Engineering, Columbia University, New York. Mr. Logan Waller Page Expert in charge of Physical Tests, Division of Chemistry, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Dr. Charles Palache Professor of Petrography, Harvard University. Mr. Luis Valentin Pirsson Professor of Physical Geology, Yale University. Dr. Henry Stephens Washington Petrographer. Dr. Henry Talbot Walden Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Yale University. Professor L. von Jaczewski Professor of Mineralogy and Geology, University of Ekaterinoslav, St. Petersburg. Dr. A. B. Meyer Late Director Konigliches Zoologisches und Anthropologisch-Ethnographisches Museum, Dresden. Tadamasa Hayashi (Chinese and Japanese.) Dr. Max Bauer Director Mineralogisches, Institut der Konigliches Universitat, Marburg (Hessen). Dr. Thomas Wilson Late Curator, Divison of Prehistoric Archaeology, Smithsonian Institution, U. S. National Museum, Washington. Dr Joseph Edkins of Shanghai. Professor A. A. Damour of Paris. Dr. Ludwig Leiner Curator of Rosgarten Museum, Constance. Mrs. Zelia Nuttall Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass. Miss Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore Dr. Franz Berwerth Director Mineralogische Abtheilung, Hof Museum, Vienna. Ernst Weinschenk Professor of Petrography, Mineralogisches Institut, Munich.[4]
The bound volumes were 19 x 26 inches and weigh, respectively, 70 and 55 pounds. The paper used for the volumes was specially made by the Brown Paper Company, and weighs 176 pounds to the ream. The stock was a combination of pure white cotton rags and linen, and no chemicals were employed. Only a hundred copies were privately printed. "The illustrations were made by various processes; etchings, wood-cuts, and lithographs. The following etchers and engravers took part in the work: Walter M. Aikman (b. 1857); Charles Jean Louis Courtrv (b. 1846); Adolphe Alphonse Gery-Bichard (b. 1841); Paul Le Rat (b. 1840); Auguste Hilaire Leveille (b. 1840); Rodolphe Pignet (b. 1840); and Emile-Jean Sulpis."[5]
Contents of the catalog are: volume 1. General introduction. Jade in China: Introduction. Yü shuo. A discourse on jade. (Translation) Yü shuo. A discourse on jade. (Chinese text) Yü tso t'ou. Illustrations of the modern manufacture of jade. Jade as a mineral. Methods of working jade. Worked jade. Bibliography (p. 257-260)--volume 2. Catalog: Brief introduction, with explanatory statement as to the arrangement. Mineralogical synopsis. Archaeological synopsis. Ancient or tomb pieces from China. Art objects, historical period.[6]
Heber Bishop also donated a large collection of Alaskan antiquities to the American Museum of Natural History in 1879. He also collected, with the assistance of Major John Wesley Powell, a large collection of British Columbian ethnological artifacts, including the famous Haida canoe, which is 64 feet long, 8 feet wide and was hollowed out of a single tree trunk by the Heiltsuk tribe, formerly known as the Bella Bella tribe opposite Queen Charlotte Island.
Brayton C. Ives, a New York financier, made a collection of rare and historical swords. When he ceased collecting, the swords were sold, and through the efforts of Mr. Bishop, W. T. Walters and the American Art Association, the valuable sword collection valued at $15,000 was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well.[7]