Volume 1 of these books was inscribed by the author to Dorothy Tapper Goldman.  Her husband owned what is believed to be one of only eight existing original printed copies of the United States Constitution, and the only copy known to be in private hands, a spokesman for the Supreme Court Historical Society said. You can read a little about Mr. Goldman at the end of this Details section.


Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2000. 2 volumes in a slipcase. (xx, 404 pages; vi, 194 pages.). First Edition(NAP). Color and B&W illustrations. Volume 1 is Signed and Inscribed by the author Marshall P.S. Wu, senior curator of Asian Art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

The Orchid Pavilion Gathering Chinese Painting From The University of Michigan Museum of Art.

These 2 volumes were purchased from Peter L. Rosenberg, the Chinese and Asian Art and Antique Specialist who owned Vallin Galleries in Wilton Ct.

There are only a few of these 2 volume sets w/slipcase for sale anywhere. This is the Only one signed. Below is a short review by Holland Carter from the NY Times in 2004 of the exhibition that the book accompanied. The last paragraph references these volumes.

ART IN REVIEW; 'Orchid Pavilion Gathering' -- 'Chinese Painting From the University of Michigan Museum of Art'


Wallach Art Gallery

Columbia University

Broadway and 116th Street

Morningside Heights

Through March 20

The Orchid Pavilion gathering is a classic theme in Chinese art. It refers to a specific social occasion in the fourth century, when a group of scholars celebrated a spring festival with a wine-fueled version of a literary tea. Sheltered in an urbane garden, they waged poetry competitions into the night, as the calligrapher Wang Xizhi wrote in his famous account of the party, describing it as perfect in every detail and all too quickly over.

The Wallach Gallery's exhibition of Chinese paintings from the University of Michigan opens with a lively 17th-century painting of the event. And the show itself feels like a just-on-the-verge-of-spring gathering of venerable spirits. Some are more brilliant or more eccentric or in better physical condition than others, but all contribute something to the stimulating atmosphere.

Although a study collection rather than a masterpiece array, the Michigan holdings include some treasurable things, among them three small time-darkened landscapes from the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), each a snapshot of a natural world imperturbable and evaporating.

But the bulk of the show's 60 pieces date from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The art of this long-lived period has become a focus of intensive investigation by Western scholars only fairly recently, and devotees will find much of interest here, in some stirring examples of portraiture and genre paintings touching on subjects as varied as Chinese history and favored pets.

The show, with many large hanging scrolls, looks great at the Wallach and is accompanied by a superb two-volume catalog written by Marshall P. S. Wu, senior curator of Asian art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Mr. Wu has designed his book for use by students and general readers, a practical approach that in this case has produced page after page of enticing fact and personal observation, delivered in crystal-clear prose. The Orchid Pavilion scholars, who probably needed a little clarity by the time their party was over, would surely have approved. HOLLAND COTTER

S. Howard Goldman, a New York real estate developer and a private collector of American autographs, documents and manuscripts, died on Tuesday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital. He was 67 and lived in New York City and New Canaan, Conn. Mr. Goldman owned what is believed to be one of only eight existing original printed copies of the United States Constitution, and the only copy known to be in private hands, a spokesman for the Supreme Court Historical Society said.

Mr. Goldman displayed his copy at institutions throughout the country and at the Supreme Court for a year in connection with the 1987 bicentennial of the Constitution.

 

Mr. Goldman, who had an interest in the workings of the Court, was a vice president of the society.

Experts in rare documents said that at one time he owned one of the most extensive collections of documents containing the signatures of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

He also once held at least one document signed by each of the 108 Justices who have held Supreme Court seats, the Historical Society said. Except for the copy of the Constitution, Mr. Goldman's entire collection was sold in 1995.

Mr. Goldman was an investing partner for 23 years with the Brodsky Organization, a New York real estate development firm, and was one of the founders of the Real Estate School at the University Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

A native of Brooklyn, he attended Erasmus Hall High School there. He received an undergraduate degree from Syracuse University and a master's degree from Wharton.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Tapper Goldman; two sons by his previous marriage to Sheila Goldman of Weston, Conn., Jim Goldman of Media Township, Pa., and Jeff Goldman of Newton, Mass.; a stepson, Mark Polansky of Manhattan, and a stepdaughter, Barbra Polansky of Point Reyes, Calif.