A Treasure Hunt For Chinese Plants, When Versailles And The Old Summer Palace Met

EVENT DESCRIPTION

For many centuries, Europeans travelled the world and the seas in search of spices. These rare plants were used for cooking and food preservation, as well as in medicines, cosmetics, and perfumes. As desirable as gold, these goods motivated numerous explorers to leave for parts unknown.

Botanists soon followed in their footsteps with the aim of identifying and collecting various plants. Besides spices, they discovered many new species of exotic woods, trees, shrubs, flowers, fruits, and vegetables. The “Indies” and China became their favourite hunting grounds. Slowly, the treasures they amassed there found their way to the West, where they acclimated to new environments in royal palaces like Versailles, as well as private residences and botanical gardens.

Speaker: Dr Estelle Niklès van Osselt, Curator, Hong Kong Palace Museum
Moderator: Dr Isabelle Frank, Consulting Curator, Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, City University of Hong Kong