Archives: Activity

Overview
Route: Salisbury Road（梳士巴利道）→ Nathan Road（彌敦道）→ Jordan Road（佐敦道）→ Temple Street（廟街）→ Public Square Street（眾坊街）→ Shanghai Street（上海街）→Reclamation Street（新填地街）

Cheng Po Hung, UMAG honorary advisor and renowned Hong Kong historian will take us down memory lane, walking through old Kowloon historic sites and scenic spots in the Yau-Tsim District. We will pass through Tsim Sha Tsui (formerly known as Hong Po Tou 香埗頭), the Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company Limited（九龍倉）, Railway Terminus（火車總站）, Signal Hill（訊號山）, Marine Police Headquarters and the Time Ball（水警總部、時球台）, Peninsula Hotel（半島酒店）, Holt's Wharf（藍煙囪貨倉碼頭）, Brands & Products Expo（工展會）, Chungking Mansions（重慶大廈）, Whitfield Barracks（威菲路兵房）, Dairy Farm Company, Limited（牛奶公司）, Princess Theatre（樂宮戲院）, Yau Ma Tei Red-light District（油麻地風月區）, Kwong Chee, Alhambra and Astor Theatres（廣智、平安及普慶戲院）, Yung Shu Tau（榕樹頭）, the old and new Yau Ma Tei Police Station（新舊差館）and Wholesale Fruit Market（果欄）.

From the crystal streams and azure skies of Scotland, members are invited to an exclusive whisky tasting and to discover the art of enjoying quality single malt, and to experience the diverse aromas and flavours in this unique kind of drink.

The tasting will feature a line-up of five exceptional vintages from The Macallan and Highland Park: The Macallan Sherry Oak 12 years, Fine Oak 17 years and 25 years, Highland Park 12 years and 18 years.

Resource Person
Stephen Mack will lead us through this whisky appreciation journey. Stephen is the CEO of Asia Wine Service and Education Centre. A renowned wine and spirit educator and speaker, he has given wine and spirit presentations all over the world on subjects including all the world’s major wine and spirit countries and regions and on matching wine with various cuisines.

The first half of 2016 has been a remarkable year for Sotheby’s Hong Kong, with a 22% increase in total sales over the same period last year. The season’s success was driven by notable collections and themed sales from collectors around the globe. This autumn on October 5th, Sotheby’s Hong Kong will present another exceptional tightly-curated and highly sought after sale of Chinese Works of Art, including three exceptional private collections. Highlights include a magnificent and extremely rare large Qianlong mark and period blue and white vase decorated with immortals, estimated at HK$28-35M.

Nicolas Chow, will give an up-close and personal guided tour on this season’s highlights in a private tour of the exhibition.

Resource Person
Nicolas Chow is the Deputy Chairman for Sotheby’s Asia and the International Head and Chairman of the Chinese Works of Art department. Mr. Chow joined Sotheby’s in 1999 and has been responsible for leading the Chinese art market across the Asia Pacific region since 2003, while maintaining strong relationships with important collectors and dealers around the globe. In 2006, he took global oversight for the Chinese Works of Art department, which holds two major sales a year in four locations, namely Hong Kong, London, Paris and New York.

Mr. Chow has brought to the market record-breaking objects and collections including Chinese Art Through The Eye Of Sakamoto Gorō (2013-2014), The Meiyintang Collection Parts I to V (2011 to 2013) as well as The Meiyintang Chicken Cup in April 2014, amongst others. He is also the key figure behind many successful theme sales focusing on Imperial works of art, such as Yongzheng – The Age of Harmony and Integrity (April 2015), Legacies of Imperial Power (October 2008) and Lost Treasures (October 2007), as well as the Contemporary Literati sales.

Mr. Chow holds a master’s degree in Art and Archaeology from the University of London.

Through the ages, rubies, sapphires and emeralds have been the three most highly revered gemstones. They are an expression of wealth and power of the ruling class, demonstrating the opulence of their courts and richness of their nations, and also an ancient talisman, bringing luck or fortune. The tradition continues today as gems have been used as an inheritance, the transfer of wealth from one generation to another, a symbol of love, romance and devotion, to adorn oneself as Cleopatra, the maharajas and the Chinese Empresses have before us, or simply appreciated as masterpieces of art by the great joaillerie maisons and modern jewellery designers today.

Yvonne Chu will give an introduction to the appreciation of gemstones, the uniqueness of each gemstone and their important deposits, followed by a special handling session of gemstone highlights in the upcoming Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction on 5 October 2016.

Speaker
Yvonne Chu is qualified Graduate Gemmologist with over ten years' experience in the gemstone and jewellery business, from teaching gemmology at GIA and Gübelin to running a retail chain in Mainland China and managing the operation of a high-end Hong Kong jewellery designer.

Ms. Chu is the Specialist of Sotheby's in Hong Kong. She was educated in Hong Kong, England and the United States, majoring in History from the University of California, San Diego.

“Faux” is the French word for false. The adjective has been adopted into the English language to describe an imitation or ersatz good.

The French term “Faux” is actually quite misleading because the Qing Dynasty
artisans were not ‘faking’ porcelain pieces to deceive people into taking them for Ming or Yüan objects. Rather, their intention was to produce porcelain objects to look like, for instance, wood, stone, lacquer, jade, gold, flower, coral, bamboo, crab-shell, tea-dust, bronze, iron-rust, turquoise, Robin’s egg and many others. This was achieved by the application or painting of colour glazes or enamels onto a hard fired porcelain body via a second low firing. Reference books on Chinese ceramics or porcelain usually devote only one or two sentences to imitation ware (仿生瓷), complemented by several photographs at the most. There are a few, but shy away from discussions on the origin, glazes, techniques and the kiln masters credited with the creation of this most interesting and innovative ware which combines the skills of potting, firing, painting and the advancement of experiences gained from monochrome and polychrome productions.

This talk focuses on Qing Dynasty porcelain, the manufacture of imitation ware however goes back to several millennia if earthenware were included.

Speaker
Richard W. C. Kan comes from a line of light industrialists from the prefecture of Nan Hai in Guangdong, founders of the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company Limited. It is documented as one of the 100 most distinguished enterprises in China of the twentieth century. The family has taken a keen interest to promote Chinese culture and Confucianism, which is highlighted by the donation of 120,000 square feet of land at So Kon Po, Hong Kong, for the erection of a school and an assembly hall to commemorate Confucius.

Mr. Kan was educated in Hong Kong at St. Paul’s Co-educational College and in England at Repton School and Imperial School. He has been a chartered engineer for over 41 years with experience in civil engineering, town planning, infrastructural and land development projects.

Since 2004, he has been a member of the History Museum Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Hong Kong Local Records Foundation overseeing this project, which is aimed at documenting all trades, professions, and locals’ and foreigners’ contributions alike to the growth and vibrancy of Hong Kong.

Of the several hobbies cultivated over the decades, Richard has taken special interests in the collection of Chinese monochrome ceramics and ancient Greek coins. An exhibition entitled “History Re-stored: Ancient Greek Coins from the Zhuyuetang Collection”, complemented by a catalogue, was mounted at the Museum of History in 2004 and another one called “Shimmering Colours: Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods, the Zhuyuetang Collection”, also complemented by a catalogue, was mounted at the Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2005.

This talk is presented in conjunction with the Museum Society’s upcoming trip to the Fergana Valley: In the Footsteps of Zhang Qian with Dr. Joseph Ting.

At the time of Wudi（武帝157-81 BC）of the Han dynasty, the Western Region（西域）including present day Xinjiang and its western fringes were occupied by Wusun（烏孫）, Yuezhi（月氏) and the powerful Xiongnu（匈奴）tribes. The trade routes from West Asia could only reach as far as Central Asia but no further. The Han empire then had little if any knowledge of Central Asia and beyond. The expedition led by Zhang Qian（張騫）, the legendary envoy albeit failing in his original mission to seek alliance with the Yuezhi people to fight against the Xiongnu who were then the most powerful force in the territory, acquired detailed information on the Western Region including Bactria and Fergana, and thus opened up trade between China and Central Asia and beyond. The talk will give a detailed account of Zhang Qian's expedition, explaining the historical background of the expedition, the activities of the abovementioned tribes at the time, and discuss the impact of Zhang Qian's expedition.

Resource Person
We are privileged to have as our resource person, Dr. Joseph Ting. He 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.

He is Honorary Advisor to many art and cultural institutions, including the University Museum and Art Gallery in HKU, the HK Museum of Art, the HK Museum of History, the Shenzhen Museum and Guangdong Provincial Museum. He is also a Member of the Antiquities Advisory Board, the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust and the Education Bureau of Hong Kong, an Honorary Fellow of the HKU and Hong Kong Institute of Education, and was an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre of Asian Studies.

Celebrity chef Hugo Leung Man To (梁文韜), better known as “To To” or “Brother To” is the managing director of Tai Wing Wah Restaurant. He is famous for his effort in enhancing and preserving traditional dishes and serving seasonal dishes. He sources local ingredients from small farms and food producers whenever possible and complements them with his insightful experience and innovations in cooking.

Leung has hosted TV shows and designed gourmet tours. He has written many books on cooking and food and is now writing weekly food columns for “The Hong Kong Economic Times”.

Do join us on this evening to try out his signature dishes of Five Flavours Soy Sauce Chicken, Steamed Grey Mullet with Salty Dried Lemon, Steamed Sponge Cake and many more other seasonal dishes specially designed for us by To To.

In conjunction with the upcoming 20th-century Paintings from the Zapanta Mexican Art Collection Exhibition, we are pleased to announce a lecture by Gregorio Luke on the artists and artistic movements in the show.More information about the event will follow.

Speaker
Gregorio Luke is an expert on Mexican and Latin American art and culture. Mr. Luke has presented over 1,000 lectures in museums and universities throughout Mexico, Europe and the United States, at institutions such as the Library of Congress, The Smithsonian Institution, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Art, and at universities such as Harvard, Columbia and Georgetown, among others.

He is the former Director of the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, former Consul of Cultural Affairs of Mexico in Los Angeles and the First Secretary of the Embassy of Mexico in Washington D.C.

In 1995, Luke was honoured with the Irving Leonard Award by the Hispanic Society of the Library of Congress. In 2005, The Ebell Club of Los Angeles honoured him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006, he received the El Angel Award by the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts and in 2007 he was recognized by CATE (California Association of Teacher’s in English) for promoting literacy in public schools.

In 2008 Mr Luke received the Local Hero Award of KCET.