Archives: Activity

 

Through the display of 231 items/sets of rare artefacts including goldware, glassware, bronze sculptures and ivory carvings, unearthed from the four famous archaeological sites of Tepe Fullol, Aï Khanum, Tillya Tepe (Hill of gold) and Begram, now in the collection of the National Museum of Afghanistan, the exhibition Glistening Treasures in the Dust – Ancient Artefacts of Afghanistan demonstrates the profound influence of foreign ancient cultures such as Greek, Indian and Roman on Afghanistan and its surrounding regions from the Bronze Age to the first century AD, as well as a cultural diversity embracing the features of different Steppe cultures. These artefacts also attest to the role played by ancient Afghanistan as the cultural crossroads of the Silk Road, which subsequently promoted the exchange and integration of world civilisations.

We are pleased to organize this guided tour with Dr. Joseph Ting. The exhibition is jointly presented by the Hong Kong Museum of History and Art Exhibitions China.

 

Resource Person

Dr. Joseph Ting majored in Chinese Literature and Chinese History from HKU and graduated with a BA degree in 1974. He was conferred an MPhil in 1979 and a PhD in 1989, both from HKU. Dr. Ting joined the Hong Kong Museum of Art as an Assistant Curator in 1979 and was appointed Chief Curator of the HK Museum of History in 1995. He retired in 2007 after serving for 28 years. He is currently an Honorary Assistant Professor in the School of Chinese at The University of Hong Kong, as well as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The HKU Museum Society is pleased to present a guided lecture and dinner on Ships of the Silk Road – The Bactrian Camel in Chinese Jade by Angus Forsyth at Min Chiu Society.

For hundreds of years, the Bactrian Camel ploughed a lonely furrow across the vast wilderness of Asia – a routing now popularly known as the Silk Road.

This bizarre-looking temperamental and yet hardy creature here came into its own as the core goods vehicle, resolutely and reliably transporting to China – over the huge and unforgiving distances – fine things from the West while taking treasures out of the Middle Kingdom in return. Throughout, where the chariot, wagon and other wheeled conveyances proved useless amidst the shifting sense of the desert dunes, the sure footed progress of the camel – the archetypal “Ship of the Silk Road” – now reigned supreme over 2500 years only being edged into replacement in the closing century of the last millennium by the construction of proper roads and the passage of goods using the internal combustion engine transforming the Bactrian Camel from a major utility to a tourist attraction.

Resource Person

Angus Forsyth

Angus Forsyth commenced work in private practice as a solicitor in 1971. In 1972 he joined the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch and has been a life member for many years. He began a jade collection in 1973 focusing only on nephrite jade worked in China from Neolithic Times up to the Qing Dynasty.

He was a founder member of the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong in 1974 and was its President in the two year period from 1984 to 1986. In 1975 he acquired his first jade Bactrian Camel of a Tang Dynasty date. This was an introduction to the mystique surrounding this remarkable animal as the unique beast of burden which carried all manner of goods from East and West on an exclusive role of trade linking China in the East with Rome in the West. From the 2nd to the 8th Century A.D. the principal traffic control and management providing Bactrian Camel transport on the Silk Road was operated by the Soghdians, an Iranian tribe from the Northeast Altai Mountains who followed the Zoroastrian fire worship religion.

In 1990 Angus Forsyth contributed an article on his study of the development of human sculptural form in Hong Shan Neolithic jade working which was published in Orientations Magazine and remains a leading article on the subject. In 1991 he contributed two chapters on Early Chinese jade to a large book on jade featuring the jade of all producer countries worldwide. In 1994 he wrote the first half on early jades of a joint publication with Brian McElney forming the catalogue of a major exhibition of both their collections at the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Bath, England.

Art and its Histories: Scholars in Lecture is a series of public lectures organized by the Department of Fine Arts, HKU and presented in collaboration with Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Friends of Hong Kong Museum of Art, and The University of Hong Kong Museum Society. The programs aim to deliver current art-historical thinking in an accessible manner presented by specialists in the field. The series is part of the Department of Fine Art’s broader dedication to promoting the importance and relevance of art history in Hong Kong.

Lecture Synopsis

One of the greatest cases of Sino-European cultural interaction before 1911 took place in the Qing court when emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong hosted and patronized a number of Jesuit artists and artisans from Europe. The Jesuits were trying to impress the emperors with supposedly superior scientific knowledge in order to help spread Christianity in China, while the emperors integrated the missionaries’ foreign painting techniques into court art to extend their own political ends.

This talk presents two cases of this remarkable cultural exchange, analyzing the techniques and effects of realism in illusionistic wall paintings designed by the famous Italian brother Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining, 1688-1766) and in military portraits by the more obscure French brother Jean-Denis Attiret (Wang Zhicheng, 1702-68). Both artists worked directly for the Qianlong emperor (r.1736-95), faithfully serving his imperial ideology, and both achieved a degree of intercultural fusion rarely seen anywhere else.

Speaker

Greg Thomas is a Professor of art history in the Department of Fine Arts at The University of Hong Kong. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University and has worked at HKU since 1999, teaching the department’s survey of western art and advanced courses on European art of the 18th and 19th centuries, modern western architecture, and intercultural interactions. A specialist in 19th-century French painting, he has published “Art and Ecology in Nineteenth-Century France: The Landscapes of Théodore Rousseau”(Princeton University Press, 2000) and “Impressionist Children: Childhood, Family, and Modern Identity in French Art”(Yale University Press, 2010). Recent research has focused on Sino-European cultural interaction in the 18th and 19th centuries, and he is currently working on a book examining European engagements with Chinese art and architecture at the palace of Yuanming Yuan.

 

Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining), Spring’s Peaceful Message,
hanging scroll, color on paper, c.1736,
collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.

 

Co-presented by

      

In celebration of the 120^th anniversary of Zhang Daqian’s birthday, Sotheby’s and Xi Zhi Tang Gallery presents a large-scale solo exhibition, “Zhang Daqian: The Master”, featuring nearly 60 paintings sourced from the artist’s family and private collectors around the world. 

Annie Wong, Deputy Director Specialist of Modern Chinese Paintings at Sotheby’s, will provide a guided tour of the exhibition of the important works spanning different periods of the artist’s oeuvre, with an emphasis on splashed ink paintings, many of which have been featured in major exhibitions while some have never been seen in public before.

Zhang Daqian was a remarkable artist from a young age, though his characteristic splashed ink painting technique was developed at a later stage in his life, during his long residency overseas when he found himself immersed in modern Western art developments and the pioneering output of the Abstract Expressionists.  Combining Chinese painting materials and semi-abstract imagery, Zhang Daqian developed a new style that encapsulated an aesthetic rooted in traditional Chinese painting, while imbuing his compositions with a spontaneity to create ravishingly beautiful works with a strong visual impact, making his mark on the history of 20^th century art.

Christie’s is delighted to invite the members of the University of Hong Kong Museum Society to a private guided tour of Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art from our forthcoming Hong Kong Autumn Auctions. The guided tour will be given by  Rosemary Scott, Senior International Academic Consultant Asian Art, Christie’s, and Pola Antebi, Deputy Chairman, Asia Pacific & International Director, Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art Department, Christie’s.

 

Resource Persons

 

Rosemary Scott

Rosemary Scott joined Christie’s in 1997 and in 2006 was appointed International Academic Director to Christie’s Asian Art Departments. In 2017 she changed to a part-time role as Senior International Academic Consultant to Christie’s Asian Art departments.

Ms Scott was formerly the Head of the Museums Department at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and was responsible for the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art and for the Brunei Gallery.

After completing a degree in Chinese Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Ms. Scott undertook postgraduate research into early Chinese lacquer and its relationship to other materials, particularly textiles and inlaid bronze. In 1979, she joined the Burrell Collection in Glasgow as an Assistant Keeper with curatorial responsibility for Oriental works of art and was appointed Deputy Keeper of the entire collection in 1980. In December 1983, Ms. Scott took up the post of curator of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and in January 1995 she became the first Head of the SOAS new Museums Department.

Ms. Scott has researched and written numerous books and articles on subjects related to Chinese ceramics and decorative arts, and has also presented papers at many international conferences, in addition to organizing and editing the proceedings of several such conferences in the UK. She has travelled widely in East Asia, America and Europe, lecturing and undertaking research. She served as President of the Oriental Ceramic Society 2006-2009.

 

Pola Antebi

Drawing from over 30 years of professional experience, Pola Antebi is a global ambassador representing Christie’s in its operations around the world. As one of the most senior Chinese ceramics and works of art specialists in the firm, Pola regularly meets with prominent collectors, dealers and museum representatives in Hong Kong, Japan, South East Asia, Europe and the United States to advise about her market, assist with curation of collections and to secure art objects for sale.

Pola began her career in the field in New York in the mid-1980’s. Her dedication to further the prominence of Chinese works of art brought her to Asia and she joined the Hong Kong office in 1990. As part of a pioneering team, Pola quickly grew the department, and supported the expansion of Christie’s presence throughout Asia. By 1998 Pola was promoted to Head of department, a role she held for 14 years. During this period of unprecedented growth, she was instrumental in elevating the category globally; her department regularly shattered auction sale records.

Through her passion, commitment and engagement with notable academics, Pola has made substantial contribution both to Christie’s and to the study of imperial ceramics and works of art, with a personal emphasis on Chinese imperial ceramics, lacquer and jade carvings from the Song to Qing dynasties.

Pola is also passionate in sharing her knowledge and experience with the younger crop of Christie’s specialist; she actively supports the mentorship program and has initiated a learning and development specialists’ forum which she chairs.

Through the display of 231 items/sets of rare artefacts including goldware, glassware, bronze sculptures and ivory carvings, unearthed from the four famous archaeological sites of Tepe Fullol, Aï Khanum, Tillya Tepe (Hill of gold) and Begram, now in the collection of the National Museum of Afghanistan, the exhibition Glistening Treasures in the Dust – Ancient Artefacts of Afghanistan demonstrates the profound influence of foreign ancient cultures such as Greek, Indian and Roman on Afghanistan and its surrounding regions from the Bronze Age to the first century AD, as well as a cultural diversity embracing the features of different Steppe cultures.  These artefacts also attest to the role played by ancient Afghanistan as the cultural crossroads of the Silk Road, which subsequently promoted the exchange and integration of world civilisations.

We are pleased to organize this guided tour with Dr. Joseph Ting.  The exhibition is jointly presented by the Hong Kong Museum of History and Art Exhibitions China.

 

Resource Person

Dr. Joseph Ting majored in Chinese Literature and Chinese History from HKU and graduated with a BA degree in 1974. He was conferred an MPhil in 1979 and a PhD in 1989, both from HKU. Dr. Ting joined the Hong Kong Museum of Art as an Assistant Curator in 1979 and was appointed Chief Curator of the HK Museum of History in 1995. He retired in 2007 after serving for 28 years. He is currently an Honorary Assistant Professor in the School of Chinese at The University of Hong Kong, as well as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Pair of clasps with cupids riding dolphins
Tillya Tepe, Tomb 3
AD 25-50

“King and Dragons” pendants
Tillya Tepe, Tomb 2
AD 25-50

The HKU Museum Society and the University Museum and Art Gallery are pleased to present guided viewings of two current exhibitions, “Along China’s Coast: Dezső Bozóky’s Travel Photography 1908–1909″ and “Silk Poems”.  We will be guided by Museum Director Dr. Florian Knothe, and author and artist of Silk Poems Jen Bervin.

 

Along China’s Coast: Dezső Bozóky’s Travel Photography 1908–1909

Following the success of UMAG’s 2016 exhibition “Two Years in Asia: Travelling in Hong Kong 1907–1909″, the Museum presents a larger group of photographs that Dezső Bozóky took along China’s coast from 1908–1909. A naval officer with the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Bozóky first left Hong Kong for Canton before travelling to Fujian province, Shanghai and Beijing, documenting the countryside and cities as well as their inhabitants.  The photographer’s interest in nature and architecture and, above all, the Qing dynasty street scenes and people he met, continue to transmit the excitement and wonder of this early European traveler in a country and culture so far from his own.

 

Silk Poems

Beyond silk’s traditional use in textiles, researchers are now experimenting with the material in novel forms of biomedical technology; as silk is compatible with human tissue, the immune system can accept silk on surfaces as sensitive as the human brain. In the UMAG exhibition Silk Poems, visual artist and author Jen Bervin melds the medium’s traditional applications with cutting edge research – engaging with silk’s cultural, scientific and linguistic complexities.

Bervin’s Silk Poems began as a six-year research project developed with expertise from more than thirty international textile archives, medical libraries, nanotechnology and biomedical labs, and sericulture sites in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

In 2016, Bervin began collaborating with scientists at the Tufts University Bioengineering Department on fabricating her poetry at nanoscale. In this process, a mask was used to etch her poetry in gold spatter onto a silicon wafer, and then liquid silk was poured over the wafer. As the silk dried, the letters remained suspended in the film, resulting in a work that can be viewed through a microscope. Throughout the exhibition, Bervin’s poetry is recreated in the form of strands of DNA so as to reflect both the filament pattern that silkworms create when making their cocoon and the genetic structure of silk, which forms like the weft thread in weaving.

 

Resource Persons

Dr. Florian Knothe studies and teaches the history of decorative arts in the 17^th and 18^th centuries with particular focus on the social and historic importance of royal French manufacture.  He has long been interested in the early modern fascination with Chinoiserie and the way royal workshops and smaller private enterprises helped to create and cater to this long-lasting fashion.

Dr. Knothe worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art focusing on European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, and on European and East Asian glass at The Corning Museum of Glass, before joining The University of Hong Kong where he now serves as Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery.

 

Jen Bervin is the author of ten books, including “Silk Poems”, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and a New Museum Book of the Year. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships and grants, including from The Foundation for Contemporary Art (1917), The Rauschenberg Residency (2016), and The Asian Cultural Council (2016). She is currently an artist in residence with SETI Institute, a program that facilitates an exchange of ideas between scientists and artists. Her work has been covered in media outlets such as “Artforum, Huffington Post, The Nation”, “The New Yorker” and “The New York Times”.

The Executive Committee is pleased to present a guided viewing of “Ink, Colour and Water – The Art of Marina Pang” with the artist Marina Pang (also known as Marina Choa) at the HK Central Library. 

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Marina graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, USA before completing a postgraduate certificate in Education from the University of London, UK.  Her passion and mastery of art developed from 1970 when she began studying Chinese ink painting from Masters Huang Chun Pi, Chao Shao An, Bao Siu Yau, He Baili and Song Yu Gui; calligraphy from Master Ou Da Wei; and oil painting under Master Ma Dok Yuan. 

 

Artist

Marina Pang is one of the founding members of the HKU Museum Society and has served as the Treasurer of the Executive Committee for many years.  Her paintings have been selected for exhibition at the Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibitions in 1989, 1998, 2001 and 2005, the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Awards in 2012, and the “Tradition to Contemporary: Ink Painting and Artistic Development in 20^th Century China” at the University Museum and Art Gallery in 2018.  Since 1994, she has held numerous solo exhibitions in Hong Kong, including the City Hall, the Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery, The Hong Kong Club and the Central Library.