Guided Viewings: "High Gothic: Christian Art and Iconography of the 13th–14th Century" and "Reflected Beauty: Chinese Reverse Glass Paintings from the Mei Lin Collection" with Dr. Florian Knothe (Members only event)

The HKU Museum Society is pleased to present two guided viewings. The exhibitions are High Gothic: Christian Art and Iconography of the 13th–14th Century and Reflected Beauty: Chinese Reverse Glass Paintings from the Mei Lin Collection at the University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU. We will be guided by Dr. Florian Knothe.

High Gothic: Christian Art and Iconography of the 13th–14th Century

This exhibition aims to display the richness of Gothic artforms in both private and public spaces. It presents highly sophisticated representations of Christian narratives, such as the Life of Christ and a broad spectrum of workshops and styles from across Western Europe that date between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Talented craftsmen worked in stone and wood, constructing many of the best-known European Churches that were decorated exuberantly with sculptures and stained-glass windows. Religious services related to the depicted imagery incorporated elaborate liturgical dress and crosses that were used during formal festivities and processions.

This exhibition is kindly supported by the McCarthy Collection, the University of Hong Kong Museum Society and The University of Hong Kong Endowment Funds for Music and Fine Arts. More information can be found here:
https://www.umag.hku.hk/en/exhibition_detail.php?id=5344146

Reflected Beauty: Chinese Reverse Glass Paintings from the Mei Lin Collection

Chinese reverse glass paintings have rarely been displayed in museums and few studies have considered their compositional elements and iconographic themes. Surviving eighteenth century paintings were often created for the export market and catered to the taste of western patrons in Europe and North America. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the production of reverse paintings became much more locally focused, with artists creating scenes filled with auspicious symbols and literary references that merchants sold mainly within China.

This exhibition is the large and multifaceted phenomenon of the more indigenous paintings rendered in finely executed detail. The fruitful collaboration with the Mei Lin Collection has assembled a group of late Qing dynasty and early Republican period paintings.

This exhibition is kindly supported by HKUMS 30th Anniversary Endowment Fund and The University of Hong Kong Endowment Funds for Music and Fine Arts. More information can be found here:  https://www.umag.hku.hk/en/exhibition_detail.php?id=1444344

Speakers

Dr. Florian Knothe teaches the history of decorative arts in the 17th and 18th century with particular focus on the social and historic importance of royal French manufacture. He has long been interested in the early modern fascination with Chinoiserie and the way royal workshops and smaller private enterprises helped to create and cater to this long-lasting fashion. Dr. Knothe worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art focusing on European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, and on European and East Asian glass at The Corning Museum of Glass, before his current position as Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery at HKU.