Hong Kong Palace Museum | HKPM Opening Exhibition Talk Series: Portraits of Qing Emperors and Empresses — Stories of Curation and Conservation

Dr Xu Yang

Associate Curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

Dr Xu Yang specialises and publishes in traditional Chinese architecture and garden art. He received his doctorate in Architectural History from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr Yang has co-curated the Hong Kong Palace Museum’s opening exhibition “Encountering the Majestic: Portraits of Qing Emperors and Empresses” and made curatorial contributions to “Entering the Forbidden City: Architecture, Collection, and Heritage” and “From Dawn to Dusk: Life in the Forbidden City”. His current curatorial and publication projects include “Yuanmingyuan: Garden Art and Qing Court Life” (working title). Prior to his appointment at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the National University of Singapore. He began his career early on at the National Museum of China, where he contributed to its academic and publication programmes. His past curatorial and research projects include the conservation of the Qianlong Garden at the Palace Museum, a study on stone imitation of timber-frame structures in the Song dynasty, and the survey and representation of cave temples at the Tsz Shan Monastery Buddhist Art Museum in Hong Kong. He has a number of papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

Ms Li An Tan

Assistant Curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

Ms Li An Tan earned her M.A. degree in History of Art and Archaeology from SOAS, University of London, concentrating on the relationship between Chinese vernacular painting and Qing court production from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries. At the Hong Kong Palace Museum, Ms Tan has co-curated the opening exhibition “Encountering the Majestic: Portraits of Qing Emperors and Empresses” and made curatorial contributions to two other exhibitions, “From Dawn to Dusk: Life in the Forbidden City” and “The Making of Masterpieces: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Palace Museum”. She has previously worked at the Bonhams, where she was responsible for over ten Chinese painting auctions, and the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, where she contributed to the research, exhibition, and publication projects on the arts of Myanmar and the early maritime trade in Asia. Her other research interests include the visual culture of late dynastic China, Islamic art, and the Silk Road.

Mr Zhichao Lyu

Conservator (Painting and Calligraphy) of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

Mr Zhichao Lyu is the inaugural conservator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum and is responsible for Chinese painting and calligraphy conservation and exhibition conservation. Lyu led the conservation work for the installation of the paintings and calligraphic works for the Museum’s opening exhibitions and made curatorial contribution to the conservation section of “Encountering the Majestic: Portraits of Qing Emperors and Empresses”. He received training from renowned Chinese painting conservators, including Gu Xiangmei and Sun Jian. He has worked at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art and contributed to numerous major projects, such as the conservation of Goat and Sheep, a masterpiece by the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) artist Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322). He was a key contributor to the 2018 exhibition “Conservation in Action: Demons and Demon Quellers” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for which his team conserved the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) painting Marshal Xin. Lyu is a strong advocate for traditional Chinese painting conservation training and has taught at Fudan University, China Maritime Museum, and the Hong Kong Palace Museum.