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A selection of Chinese works of art belonging to collector and antique specialist Wang Shixiang and his wife Yuan Quanyou is on show at Poly Plaza for five days starting from today.
The over 140 pieces of antiques include ancient Qin (a seven-stringed musical instrument with a history of 3,000 years), bronze incense burners, Buddhist statues, furniture, bamboo and wood carving and carved gourds. All the pieces on show will go under the hammer at China Guardian’s autumn auction next month. Scholar and connoisseur Wang Shixiang was born into a wealthy literati family in Beijing in 1914. He graduated from Yanjing (now Peking) University with an MA in traditional Chinese painting theory in 1941.
After the Anti-Japanese War ended in 1945, Wang was appointed assistant commissioner in the Committee for Recovering Cultural Relics Lost During the War for the Beijing and Tianjin area. Between November 1945 and September 1946, he recovered over 2,000 antiques that had been looted during the eight-year war, many of which are now classed among the country’s most valued cultural relics. Following the founding of new China, Wang worked at the Palace Museum, the Chinese Music Research Institute and the Chinese Cultural Relics Research Institute. He is now a member of the State Cultural Relics Appreciation Committee.
An erudite man with a profound knowledge of ancient arts and crafts, it is Wang who established an academic foundation for the study of Ming Dynasty furniture.
He has published many books, including a number on areas that receive little academic attention. His writings include On Chinese Painting Theories, Index of Ancient Chinese Music Books, Bamboo Carvings of China, Ancient Chinese Lacquer Ware, Classic Chinese Furniture, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, The Charms of Gourd, On Beijing’s Pigeon Whistlesand Jin Hui Dui (Ashes of Time). Many of these have become essential reading for collectors, dealers, antique lovers and researchers.
Through Zhang Guilun, Wang donated his collection of 79 Ming and Qing furniture to the Shanghai Museum in 1993, but this is the first time he has put such a large selection of his collection up for auction.
Where: No. 4 Conference Room, Level 2, Poly Plaza, Dongzhimenwai (north east exit of Dongsi Shitiao Subway) When: 10 am - 5 pm, October 10 to 15.
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