John Sparks - Chinese works of art, London

John Sparks, konsthandel i London, specalist på framför allt kinesiskt konst "Chinese Works of Art". Låg på 37a Duke Street, Manchester Square, London W1 (annons i Burlington Monograph, Chinese Art, 1925). Låg på 128 Mount Street, London W.1 från 1928.
Grundades på 1870-talet och fanns fram till ungefär 1990. Grundaren var John Sparks (1854-1914), en sjökapten som var verksam i Asien. Hans far levde i Bombay. John Sparks son Ernest Peter Sparks (1896-1970) drev verksamheten vidare efter faderns död (se The Antique Collector, Vol. VI, 1935-36, p.368). Från tidigt 1920-tal var firman verksam i Kina ca 6 månader per år. De hade regelbundet utställningar i London efter första världskriget, och även under 3 år i New York. 1926 fick de pris, "the Royal Warrant of Antiquary of Chinese Art to H.M. Queen Mary". Tillsammans med Bluetts var de en av de mest långvariga och respekterade konsthandlarna i London för kinesisk konst.
(Chinese Art - Research into Provenance, http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/admn/php/carp/index.php, 2011-07-08)

Chinese Works of Art, 37a Duke Street, Manchester Square, London W1 (advertisement, Burlington Monograph, Chinese Art, 1925)
128 Mount Street, London W.1
Founded in the 1870s, the company ceased trading around 1990.
- John Sparks, sea captain who spent his life in the East; his father lived in Bombay. Set up business in London; died 1914. Succeeded by his son:
- Sparks, Peter (born 1896) joined firm 1910 – see The Antique Collector, Vol. VI, 1935-36, p.368
Advertised in Berlin, 1919, exh catalogue, address in China: 103 Chao Tung Road, Shanghai.
Lent to RA Exh 1935-6
From early 1920s the firm’s principal representative worked in China for c.6 months a year;
Regular exhs in London and, for 3 years after end of WW1, in New York.
1926 awarded the Royal Warrant of Antiquary of Chinese Art to H.M. Queen Mary.
Along with Bluetts, Sparks were among the longest established and most respected London dealers in Chinese art.
Archive location: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
(Chinese Art - Research into Provenance, http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/admn/php/carp/index.php, 2011-07-08)