Passion for Collecting: Founding Donations to the Hong Kong Palace Museum

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM or the Museum) is pleased to announce that its new exhibition “Passion for Collecting: Founding Donations to the Hong Kong Palace Museum” (“Passion for Collecting”) will open to the public in Gallery 6 of the HKPM on 15 March 2024. As the first thematic exhibition on the Museum’s own remarkable collection, “Passion for Collecting” showcases the spirit of generosity of the Museum’s 12 founding donating parties and their significant contributions to advancing the understanding of Chinese art and culture. Featuring close to 100 objects, the exhibition invites visitors to discover fascinating stories about the donors and their special collecting and artistic journeys, as well as appreciate the aesthetic, historical, and cultural significance of these donated works. The exhibition will be on view until 31 March 2025.

The HKPM aspires to become a leading cultural institution. Not only does it present treasures on loan from the Palace Museum and all over the world, it is also committed to building its own collections that illustrate the magnificent breadth and depth of Chinese art and culture.To commemorate the HKPM’s grand opening in 2022, many Hong Kong collectors and artists have generously donated their treasures in support of the Museum’s mission of promoting Chinese culture. Their incredible generosity has helped lay the foundation for the Museum’s growing collection. In less than two years, the HKPM has received over 1,100 works, generously donated by Ms Betty Lo and Mr Kenneth Chu, owners of the Mengdiexuan Collection; Mr Anthony Cheung, owner of the Huaihaitang Collection; Professor Raymond Fung; Mr Lawrence Chan, master of the Dawentang Collection; Mr Wu Chie Hong; Ms Grace Wu, founder of Grace Wu Bruce Gallery; Mr Andy Hei (with credit to his parents Hei Hung Lu and Chang Ping Wen); Mrs Nancy Lee; Mr Henry Ng; Mr Warren Cheng; Dr Yip Shing Yiu, owner of the Dr S. Y. Yip Collection; and Ms Carrie Li. Their important gifts to the Museum not only reflect their unique connoisseurship and sophisticated taste, but also highlight the rich cultural traditions of Hong Kong and its unique position as a centre for Chinese art collecting and research.

The exhibition consists of five sections: metalware, painting and calligraphy, furniture, religious art, and ceramics, dating from the Neolithic period to the 21st century. Visitors will appreciate the evolution and development of craftsmanship and aesthetics across five millennia of Chinese civilisation.

The numerous cultural relics highlighted in the metalware section – including goldwork, bronzes, and enamels – demonstrate the achievements in the development of Chinese metal craftsmanship and aesthetics and the cultural exchanges between China and the world. The painting and calligraphy section spotlights the works of the revolutionary artist Wu Cho Bin (1897–1942), whose realistic and colourful tiger paintings serve as a powerful metaphor for China’s spirit of self-strengthening and revitalisation. The furniture section includes Ming furniture, with its elegant style, simple contours, and ingenious, precise, and strong mortise-and-tenon construction; example of Ming black lacquer furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl designs reflect the refined taste of those who used the furniture as well as the superb skills of its makers. The religious art section features richly embroidered thangkas, each telling stories from Buddhist tradition. The ceramics section includes painted pottery from the Neolithic period as well as the brilliantly hued cloisonné of the Ming and Qing dynasties, which demonstrate highly sophisticated ceramic-making techniques over the long history of Chinese ceramics.

One of the featured objects is the very first item that the HKPM acquired: a headdress with dragons chasing a pearl (Ming dynasty, 1368–1644). In addition, under the Hong Kong Palace Museum Conservator-In-Residence Programme supported by the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Bureau of the HKSAR Government, conservation experts from the Palace Museum have jointly restored and preserved two newly acquired cultural relics: an altar table with flowers and plants in pots and vases (16th century) and a locomotive clock (about 1900). Both will be displayed for the first time since entering the HKPM collection.

Digital technology is incorporated into the exhibition display. 12 objects were selected to undergo 3D scans to create short educational videos that visitors can view to examine the objects in intricate detail.