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Private collections belonging to Greenwich residents are now on display at the Bruce Museum. The three collections include Andrew Wyeth paintings, rare Italian Renaissance and Baroque drawings, and Chinese ceramics from the Tang Dynasty. Fred Brooks, along with this wife Jane, began their collection of Chinese ceramics in 1992 while visiting Hong Kong.
"We lived in a different house in Greenwich then we live now. There was a beautiful wood panel between the dining room and the kitchen. We had been looking for something prominent to show there. When we were traveling in Hong Kong, we found ourselves looking in some of the galleries there. There was a lovely Tang horse, which of course, we knew nothing because we had no interest in this period prior to that. But, it came with the right credentials, so we thought about it and said 'wouldn't it look good right there?'," said Brooks.
The couple has collected over 40 pieces from the time period of 618-907 A.D.
"These are fabulous. I think any museum, including the Bruce, would love to have them because they are all unique and have different qualities. These two are exceptional and still have a lot of the gold on them. If you look carefully, you can still see a lot of the paint. Those are special," said Brooks.
The Brooks are donating the pieces to the Bruce in hopes that the ceramics will help the Museum's future.
"It will make the Bruce more of a destination museum. People will come from far and wide. It also gives the Bruce a collection to swap out or trade to other museums who will then be more inclined to lend some of their good collections to the Bruce. This will become even more important as the Bruce has more capacity. They can have some of the really great shows that occasionally travel," said Brooks.
All three collections will be on display at the Bruce through August 31st.

Produced By: Taylor Knight 2016