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Final call for textile art lovers🎺

Only 1 week left to experience Symbols of Identity: IKAT Textiles from Indonesia at UMAG, a focused display of masterfully woven textiles from across the Indonesian archipelago that reveal subtle, asymmetrical designs long overlooked by scholars. Don’t miss this last chance to immerse yourself in our intricate ikat textiles! 👀

紡織藝術愛好者最後召集🎺

展覽 「文符交織：印尼伊卡的絣織意像」展期剩下不足一週！展覽聚焦探索印尼群島織造者非凡的藝術造詣，揭示長久以來被學術界忽視的視覺語言與藝術巧思。
把握最後機會，細看這些由印尼頂尖織造者精心織造的絣織作品👀
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Symbols of Identity: IKAT Textiles from Indonesia
《文符交織：印尼伊卡的絣織意像》
📆 December 12, 2025 - Jan 15, 2026
🎟️ 免費入場 Free Admission
📍香港大學美術博物館 馮平山樓地下博藝軒
📍 Study Gallery, G/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
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Upcoming Lecture💬

From Soil and Temples to the Desk: Prototypes and Inheritance in Late Chinese Bronzes

Bronze has held an enduring place in Chinese culture for over 3,000 years. Originally cast as ritual vessels for formal banquets and various sacrifices, bronzes are still widely used today—embellishing households, furnishing altars, or serving as diplomatic gifts.

This talk traces the origins of the delicate scholar’s studio bronzes now exhibited at UMAG back to the Neolithic Age. Prehistoric ceramic containers served as prototypes for the food and wine vessels of the Bronze Age. These objects, associated with authority and power, gradually formed the core of major imperial collections and inspired later practices of recreation, antiquarianism, and archaism throughout dynastic China.
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🗣️Speaker: Shengyu Wang, Associate Curator, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong
🗣️Moderator: Florian Knothe, Director, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong
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[Lecture] From Soil and Temples to the Desk: Prototypes and Inheritance in Late Chinese Bronzes

📅 Saturday, 17 January 2026
🕕 3:15–4:45 p.m.
📍 1/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
🗣️ Language: English
🎟️ Registration Required
🔗 For more information, please check the link in bio!
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UMAG Online Lecture Series (2025-2026) 💬 Lecture 2

‘Oriental Illuminated Manuscripts’: Rediscovering Chinese Paintings in the 19th-Century British Rare Book Trade

This study re-examines the circulation of Chinese paintings for the domestic market in nineteenth-century Britain, challenging the prevailing view that such works attracted little attention in the West before the early twentieth century. It is generally believed that pre-twentieth-century examples of Chinese paintings were dominated by ‘export paintings’, produced for foreign markets and often regarded as souvenirs or as painted wallpaper for interior decoration. By contrast, the few examples of paintings made for domestic taste that entered the UK were primarily linked to the looting of imperial palaces. These works attracted little notice compared with more prized artefacts such as cloisonné or porcelain, and it is believed that their artistic value remained poorly understood or appreciated until the following century.
However, during the course of his PhD research into the provenance of a Qing imperial album, Haoyang Zhao discovered that paintings intended for the domestic Chinese market were in fact traded in Britain during the late nineteenth century, though primarily within the rare book trade, rather than the better-studied antique market. By analysing catalogues of rare book dealers, records of specialised auction sales, and the activities of a prominent manuscript collector, this presentation aims to showcase observations on how Chinese paintings made for the domestic market were catalogued, circulated, and understood in the UK at the time.
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🗣️Speaker: Haoyang Zhao, Associate Lecturer, The Courtauld Institute of Art
🗣️Discussant: Florian Knothe, Director, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong
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[Online Lecture] ‘Oriental Illuminated Manuscripts’: Rediscovering Chinese Paintings in the 19th-Century British Rare Book Trade

📅 Monday, 12 January 2026
🕕 4:00–5:00 p.m. (GMT+8)
📍 Online via Zoom
🗣️ Language: English
🎟️ Registration Required
🔗 For more information, please check the link in bio!
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