Max Loehr (December 4, 1903 - September 16, 1988) earned his Ph.D. in Far Eastern art from the University of Munich in 1936. Afterward, he became an assistant in charge of the Asiatic collections for the Museum Five Continents (Museum Fünf Kontinente, formerly known as the Museum für Völkerkund) in Munich. In 1940, Loehr went to Beijing to study at the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion, later serving as director of the institute and as an assistant professor at Tsinghua University. In 1949, he returned to his former post in Munich, moving to the United States two years later to become a professor at the University of Michigan. In 1960, Loehr accepted the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Chair position in East Asian Art at Harvard University and took a post as curator of Oriental art at the Fogg Museum until his retirement in 1974. He also cataloged the ancient jades at the museum in the Grenville L. Winthrop collection. Max Loehr retired from Harvard in 1974.

One of the foremost authorities on Chinese bronzes and jades, and a specialist as well in ancient Chinese painting, Professor Loehr published eight books and numerous articles in these fields.