Guided Viewing: The Best of the Best The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture
The Executive Committee is pleased to organise this guided tour of an exhibition of the private collection of the world’s foremost expert in and leading dealer of Ming furniture, Grace Wu Bruce.
Formed over the past 30 years and little known to the public, The MQJ Collection, short for Muquju ('Lodge of Wood Delights'), comprises more than 100 pieces (sets) of museum-grade Ming furniture of all major types, mainly made of huanghuali and zitan. The collection spans 11 categories, from tables and chairs to incense stands and beds, all beautifully designed, superbly crafted and in excellent condition. Among them are rare surviving examples of their kind which are being unveiled to the market for the very first time.
Resource Person
The tour will be led by Julian King, Director, International Specialist of the Chinese Works of Art Department in Hong Kong. Julian King joined Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2013 as International Specialist in the Chinese Works of Art department, with responsibility for supporting global sales of Chinese Works of Art focusing on sourcing and selling.
Mr. King began his career in the art industry working as a cataloguer of ceramics and works of art in Sotheby’s London from 2000 to 2004, where he trained under Julian Thompson, the late Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia. After a career change, he returned to the Chinese art world at an auction house in London before relocating to Hong Kong to head their Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art department between 2008 and 2013. In addition to a focus on Chinese porcelain, Mr. King is particularly specialised in Qing dynasty works of art, and has handled a number of prominent collections in the past decade, including Snuff Bottles from the Mary and George Bloch Collection (2010-2015), Later Chinese Bronzes from the Collection of Ulrich Hausmann (October 2014) and The Robert H. Blumenfield Collection of Chinese Bamboo Carvings (April 2015). Mr. King also has a deep interest in Tibetan art and supports the Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art sales in New York.
Mr. King graduated from Wadham College, Oxford University, with a Masters in Classical and Modern Chinese.