The House of Jade, Ltd. [promotional brochure], 17 East 42nd St., New York. [ca. 1950] 6 x 9” 14pp.+ original pictorial wrappers, with photographs of the late Dr. Stanley Charles Nott and his wife. Illustrated with numerous photos in the text. WorldCat shows only one holding in America – at Princeton – and just one other, in South Africa.
Appearing more like a museum prospectus that a commercial catalogue - which pictures such treasures as “the earliest known Chinese Ritual Tea Pot in the hands of the Occident”, “Value $8,750” - it’s not clear if the rarities displayed were for sale by the House of Jade, founded by British-born Stanley Charles Nott, most prominent international authority on rare Chinese Jade artifacts.
The photos give the impression that Nott was still living, though he had actually died in 1945, the House of Jade being a joint enterprise with his wife, who, after his death, had moved to New York from their home in West Palm Beach, having sold Nott’s fabulous personal collection of Jade to what is now the Norton Museum in Florida.
Nott was well-known as author of the classic 1936 work, “Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages”, and compiler of a lavish, limited edition 1940 Catalogue of Rare Jade Carvings; that book can now bring more than $2,000 on the antiquarian book market, but, surprisingly, this little pamphlet is far more rare.