In 1904, Mr. Charles L. Freer transmitted to the Smithsonian Institution an offer to bequeath or make present conveyance of title to his extensive art collections to the Institution or the United States Government, and to furnish the means for errecting, after his death, a suitable building to receive them. The original collection conveyed by a deed of gift on May 5, 1906, comprised about 2,250 objects, but the additions since made have increased the number to above 4,000. Seven American artists are represente dby over 1,000 examples, more than four-fifths of which are the work of James McNeill Whistler. The oriental part of the collection consists of Chinese and Japanese paintings in screens, panels, kakemono, makimono, and albums; of pottery chiefly from Japan, Korea, China, Persia, and Egypt; of Egyptian glass; and of figures, statuettes, sculpture, mirrors, boxes, etc., in bronze, stone, wood, and lacquer. The special exhibition to which this catalogue relates comprises only about 175 of these objects.

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