2021 No.3
News: Art Museum “Enchanting Expeditions: Chinese Trade Porcelains across the Globe”
Exhibition Period: From 25 September 2021 to 24 April 2022

At the height of the Age of Discovery in the 16th century, Europeans flocked to the Orient, surmounting geographic barriers, and plunging the Ming Empire into the globalization matrix. The great variety of produce and finely crafted objects from Ming China, for daily use or decoration, quickly became sought-after international commodities in a growing world market and a driving force for Europeans to expand their trade in the Orient. The most highly prized Chinese goods then were silk, porcelains, lacquerwares, and tea.
 
Very much a specialty of the Ming, porcelain took the Europeans by storm as soon as it arrived on the continent. Translucent and shiny, light, and durable against wear and erosion, the exotic pieces with a mysterious oriental style were zealously coveted by royalty, aristocrats, and even religious leaders. To make the most of the drastically expanding global market, merchants from various countries became actively involved in the design, manufacture, shipment, and sale of Chinese porcelain, resulting in diversification of production centres as well as an amazing array of types and decorations for this vibrant Chinaware. The Chinese trade porcelain thus entered its golden age and caused marvellous ebb and flow in the globalised commercial world.
 
This exhibition provides an overview of the Sino-European maritime trade in porcelain during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It features over 400 pieces (sets) of trade porcelains and related objects from Art Museum, CUHK, and other public and private collections. Integrating object display with textual records as well as historical images, we aim to reconstruct the design, manufacture, transport, and sale processes of Chinese export porcelain and their use and impact in overseas markets. We invite visitors to travel with us back in time and across the globe to see how Ming and Qing porcelain came to dominate the international market and how it profoundly impacted the porcelain industry of the world. The exhibition is organised in six sections: Encountering Oriental Wonders, Thriving Country of China, Manufacture and Transport of Porcelain, Braving the Ocean Waves, International Fashions, and Profound Impact of Chinaware.
Back to Issue
Eulogies:Mourning Professor Yu Ying-shih, the Great Intellectual Historian, Former Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Doctor of Laws, honoris causa of CUHK
Eulogies: In Memoriam Professor Yu Ying-shih (in Chinese only)
Eulogies: In Memoriam Leon Vandersmeersch
News: ICS Luncheon 2021 (I)
News: ICS Luncheon 2021 (II)
News: Ceremony for the Golden Jubilee of the Art Museum
News: Southbound Intellectuals and Their Legacy: Lingnan Literati’s Contribution to a Century of Hong Kong Education
News: ICS Welcoming Session for Visiting Scholars
News: ICS Public Lecture “Three Teachings”: Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism
Event: Art Museum “The Bei Shan Tang Legacy: Chinese Painting”
News: Art Museum “Artistic Confluence in Guangdong: Selected Painting and Calligraphy from Ming to Mid-Qing China” (Collection of the Art Museum, CUHK) (Phase II: Qing Dynasty)
News: Art Museum “Enchanting Expeditions: Chinese Trade Porcelains across the Globe”
Event: Art Museum “Oracle Bones Collection from CUHK” (Virtual Exhibition)
Event: Art Museum “INKspiration” Video Series
Event: Art Museum “The Bei Shan Tang Legacy: Chinese Painting” Online Mini Game
Event: Art Museum “Recordings of “The Bei Shan Tang Legacy: Chinese Painting” Symposium
Event: Art Museum “A Glimpse of Jiangnan” Video Series
Event: Art Museum “Artistic Confluence in Guangdong” Lecture Series II
Event: Art Museum “Autumn Guqin Concert”
Event: Art Museum’s Golden Jubilee Celebration Events
Event: Art Museum “Ballads of Ink from Canton” Series
Event: Art Museum “Enchanting Expeditions” Wednesday Lecture Series
Event: Art Museum “Tell-tale Relics” Social Media Sticker Pack
Event: Art Museum “Appreciate Cultural Diversity through Arts”
Event: Art Museum “Art Museum Ambassador Scheme 2021-22”
Event: Art Museum “Instant Photo Booth for the 90th Congregation”
Event: Art Museum “Research Programme for Chinese Archaeology and Art” Lecture Series 2021
Event: Lecture: “Exports to the Islamic World in the Qing Dynasty – A Talk on Canton Enamelled Copperware”
Event: Lecture: “Canton Enamelled Metalwares from Qing Dynasty in Hong Kong Collections”
Event: Online Conference “The Interaction between Enamel in the Qing Dynasty and Europe” Online Conference
Event: T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre “The Seventh Inter-Regional Forum on Dialectal Grammar”
New Publications
Event Highlight: Exhibition: Southbound Intellectuals and Their Legacy: Lingnan Literati’s Contribution to a Century of Hong Kong Education
Event Highlight: “Enchanting Expeditions” Wednesday Lecture Series
Event Highlight: Wenlan Museology Forum.Youth Workshop (Phase IV)
Event Highlight: 2021 International Conference on Ming-Qing Studies, Academia Sinica
Event Highlight: RPCAA Lecture Series (11)
Event Highlight: The Second Southern Institute of Chinese Linguistics
Event Highlight: The 25th International Conference on Yue Dialects
Editorial Board Committee
 
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