The Art and Culture of Yixing Zisha Stoneware With Lai Suk Yee

Combining the treasures of two museums, this exhibition demonstrates and explores the artistic achievements and development of Yixing zisha stoneware, as well as its cultural significance and social impact. The exhibits include 168 items from the Bei Shan Tang Collection of the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and 50 items from the K.S. Lo Collection of the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, totalling 218 items. The exhibition is divided into two main themes. The first theme entitled – "The Culture and Connoisseurship of the Yixing Teapot" – is divided into seven sections: The Story of the Gongchun Teapot; Yixing Ware Dominates the Collecting Scene; Significance and Influence of Mansheng Teapots; Mengchen Teapots and Gongfu Tea; Elegant Works from the Late Qing Dynasty to Early Republican Era; The Modern Tradition; and Export Yixing Stoneware and Its Influence. The second theme centres on the uses of Yixing stoneware beyond tea culture, with special focus on archaistic vessels, elegant objects and naturalistic sculptures for the scholar’s studio.

Speaker
Lai Suk Yee is Researcher (Yixing Project) at the Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She was a graduate from the Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She then earned her MPhil degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She has been working at the Art Museum since the late 1970s. She has rich experience in Chinese art exhibitions, contributing much to the exhibitions and providing academic research, entries and panel writing, translation and editing for the catalogues. In addition, she teaches in the Department of Fine Arts and the University's General Education programme. Lai Suk Yee’s research specialty is Chinese ceramics, and Yixing is her main interest. She has collaborated with Terese Tse Bartholomew on three Yixing ware exhibitions.