Adam's FINE ASIAN ART Part 1 June 29th 2021

40 Born in the earliest years of the 20th century, Maurice Chayet embraced a long-last- ing career as a French politician and Diplomat. A refined connoisseur of Asia, its civilisations and of Mandarin language, he was appointed the First Secretary of the French Embassy in Beijing, China, in the 1920s to the 1930s. Later on he went back to France and eventually became a Minister. His in-depth knowledge of Asia was highly praised and he gave many conferences on the subject, like the one entitled “The Chinese Language and Writing”, delivered at the French Institute March 6, 1947. A few years laters, his talents as a Diplomat led him to be appointed, amidst other tenures, the French Ambassador to Haïti (1945-1950) and to Paraguay (1953- 1957). During his stay in China, Chayet built a significant collection of Chinese artefacts, mostly dating to the Qing Dynasty. Two original images of Chayet’s residence in Beijing, dating from circa 1920-1925 and displaying parts of his vast collec- tion, and notably the carp-shaped pewter tureen that we pres- ent, are a testimony of his life. Maurice Chayet