Asian Works of Art

Sotheby's Hong Kong, June 4, 2021, Snuff Bottles from the Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter Collection, Part I, lot 1106.

Property from the Estate of Dr. Thomas A. Klein, MD. Sold to benefit the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Published:

Christopher Sin, Humphrey Hui, Po Ming Kwong, ed., A Congregation of Snuff Bottle Connoisseurs: An Exhibition of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1996, cat. No. 39.

Tina Yee-wan Pang, ed., Heavenly Creations: Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Anthony Cheung, Humphrey Hui, Po-Ming Kwon Tuyet Nguyet and Christopher Sin, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 53.

來源：

香港蘇富比2021年6月4日雪月藏鼻烟壺專場第一部分1106號。

Thomas Klein醫生遺產，拍賣所得歸Jefferson醫院。

著錄：

冼祖谦、许建勋、邝溥铭合著《壶趣集庆——中国鼻烟壶展》，1996年徐氏艺术馆展覽出版，第39號。

彭綺雲編，《天地造化：鍾棋偉、許建勳、鄺溥銘、雪月及冼祖謙藏中國鼻煙壺》，2005年香港大學美術博物館展覽出版，第53號。

湯姆·克萊因醫生收藏鼻烟壺逾四十年。他畢業於哈佛大學與羅徹斯特大學，曾於美國陸軍擔任婦產科醫師並出任高階領導職務。其後於傑佛遜醫院服務三十年，2023年以婦產科副主任身分榮退，期間培養了五百餘名住院醫師與無數醫學生。他的學術與臨床精神延續於以其名設立的「Thomas A. Klein 講席教授」，本場拍賣所得亦歸於傑佛遜醫院。

Tom Klein’s life was shaped by two enduring passions: medicine and the collecting of snuff bottles. While these worlds rarely intersected, both were marked by the same qualities—quiet dedication, discernment, and grace.

Tom was unfailingly modest–when the I.C.S.B.S. held its convention in Philadelphia, he entrusted me to select bottles from his collection for the exhibition “Embers of the East,” a task made challenging by the number of exceptional bottles. His passion for collecting was thoughtful rather than acquisitive, grounded in appreciation rather than display. These were his companions—objects he handled, studied, and loved for over 40 years.

Professionally, Tom enjoyed an equally distinguished career. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Rochester, he served as an obstetrician-gynecologist in the U.S. Army in senior leadership roles. He spent thirty years at Jefferson Hospital, retiring in 2023 as Vice Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, having trained more than five hundred residents and countless medical students. His legacy continues through the Thomas A. Klein, MD Professorship in Quality and Safety in Women’s Health.

To those who knew him as a collector, these accomplishments mirrored the man I admired: principled, generous, and exacting without pretension. Over the 35 years I had the privilege to know him, he was a gentleman in the most absolute sense of the word. Though he is deeply missed, his presence endures in the objects he cherished and in our shared love of snuff bottles.

Clare Chu