Frank Partridge and William Hesketh Lever - National Museums ...

Fig 7. Kangxi oviform jar (LL6750)Dealer­collector relations, 1915­1924A shift away from traditional forms of patronage (i.e. ceramics made to specialorder) to the public sale of works by aristocratic collectors to the members of theaffluent middle classes may help to account for the rise of the commercial artdealer in the late 19 th and early 20 th century. Chinese art dealing remained anunregulated market—vis­à­vis other occupations or the selling of financialinstruments— such that art dealers were probably self­selected. Dealersbehaved as entrepreneurs, and their self­promotion and innovation wereimportant in becoming successful market agents. 29Partridge was not from a privileged background which had a source of privatewealth as a form of income. He seldom made direct acquisitions of art butoperated on a commission basis between collectors, and dutifully acted asLever’s ‘personal advisor’ who supplemented Lever’s own taste. With the moneyhe used to ‘recruit’ Partridge, Lever gained cultural competence.29See Derrick Chong, Stakeholder Relationships in the Market for Contemporary Art, inIain Robertson Understanding International Art Market and Management, London: Routledge,2005, p. 94.9