Hong Kong Palace Museum | Private to Public: The History of Chinese Art Collecting in Hong Kong

The Founding Collection of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

The Hong Kong Palace Museum is grateful to Mengdiexuan, Huaihaitang, Dawentang, and Jiamutang for their generous donations. Their gifts of almost one thousand precious objects have provided an important foundation for the Museum to conduct new research and develop original exhibitions. With these donations, the Museum proudly joins the institutions to present Chinese heritage, art, and culture to local and international audiences.

Anthony Hardy Collection and the Hong Kong Maritime Museum

Anthony J. Hardy, the custodian of the Sze Yuan Tang Collection, co-founded the Hong Kong Maritime Museum in 2003. Hardy donated his collection of trade art to the museum, enrolling other local collectors to follow suit. An important archive of historical materials which recorded the development of international trade in the Pearl River Delta, these donations greatly enriched the collection of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

Imperial Ritual Vessels of the Qing Dynasty

Dr Iain Clark is a collector-researcher of Qing dynasty ritual vessels. He has conducted comprehensive studies of their forms, colours, functions, as well as complex issues such how rituals were used to reinforce the legitimacy of the imperial court. In 2016, Clark donated his entire collection to the Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His generosity inspired Anthony Kee Wee Cheung of the Huaihaitang collection to supplement the donation with some of his own ritual vessels. Major donations to museums often stimulate new research. After Clark’s donation, an exhibition, a catalogue, and a conference were organised, leading to great advances in the study of these objects traditionally neglected by collectors.

• Colours, Forms, and Functions
  The colours of porcelain ritual vessels correspond to the different altars or temples they were meant to be placed at in Beijing. In principle, blue vessels were for Heaven and yellow for Earth. Different shapes of vessels contained different types of offerings: deng and dou were used for meat and vegetable dishes, xing for soup, gui and fu for grains, and zun for wine.

“Bronze wares are an integral part of Chinese art and cultural heritage. Produced mainly as ritual vessels and reached their peak in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, they reflect the cultures of ancient Chinese societies…”

Fung Ping Shan Museum exhibition pamphlet, 1960s

Dr Tsin-tong Tsui: Promoting Chinese Art around the World

As a successful businessman and collector, Dr Tsin-tong Tsui was dedicated to promote Chinese art and culture. He supported local public museums and established the first private museum in Hong Kong, the Tsui Museum of Art, in 1991. After the Tsui Museum closed in the late 1990s, many objects in his collection were donated to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, becoming a major part of its founding collection. Tsui also set up several galleries of Chinese art in overseas museums, introducing Chinese art and culture to audiences in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe.

Dr Kwee-seong Lo: The Revival of Yixing Ware

Dr Kwee-seong Lo, the founder of Vitasoy, started collecting Yixing teapots in the 1950s. In the 1980s Lo campaigned for the former residence of the Commander of British forces in Central to be transformed into the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, and donated a large collection. Lo also paid several visits to Yixing and provided funds to revive local craftsmanship. He arranged touring exhibitions of Yixing ware to Europe and North America, introducing the material to a global audience.

• Yixing teapots
  Normally unglazed, Yixing teapots are made of purple clay that is thought to retain the fragrance of tea better than porcelain. For centuries, they have been highly sought after and have been exported all over the world.

Liang Yi Museum and Classical Chinese Furniture

In 1985, the respected scholar-collector Wang Shixiang (1914–2009) published his magnum opus on classical Chinese furniture in Hong Kong, leading to a surge of interest among collectors first in Hong Kong and then across the world. One of the world’s largest collections was assembled by Peter Yiu-Fai Fung (b. 1946) and is housed in the private Liang Yi Museum. Established in 2014, the museum has organised touring exhibitions to museums abroad, including the Palace Museum.