Sitting majestically in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District lies a US$450mil (approximately RM2bil) building housing an eye-catching list of national treasures poised to share China’s history and culture to the world.
Less than four months since opening its doors last July, the Hong Kong Palace Museum has welcomed more than 500,000 visitors, and the numbers keep on growing through the months, with 7,000 daily entries.
Designed by acclaimed Hong Kong-born architect Rocco Yim, the museum’s layout echoes the distinctive “central axis” style of Beijing’s Forbidden City. Its floors are vertically connected through three atriums stacked on top of each other, guiding visitors upwards while offering sweeping vistas of Hong Kong’s skyline.
The seven story-building has a floor space of approximately 30,000sq m and is home to more than 900 treasures loaned from Beijing’s Palace Museum.
“In total, 914 loans were selected from over 1.8 million works in the Palace Museum’s collection – 166 of which are grade-one pieces classified as national treasures,” said the museum’s associate curator Li An Tan during a recent media visit, organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
“This loan is among the largest the Palace Museum has ever lent to another cultural institution since its establishment in 1925. To promote cultural exchanges between China and other parts of the world, the Hong Kong Palace Museum also loaned 13 art pieces from the iconic Louvre Museum in Paris,” she added.
The first gallery, “Entering The Forbidden City: Architecture, Collection, And Heritage”, sheds light on the story of the Qing court. It features over 179 works from the Palace Museum, many of which were commissioned by the emperor himself.
The second gallery, “From Dawn To Dusk: Life In The Forbidden City”, is divided into nine sections, making it the museum’s largest exhibition. Here, visitors can have a glimpse into the daily lifestyle of a Chinese emperor.
A standout piece on display is a silk yellow robe adorned with dragons motifs. This festive garment belonged to the Qianlong Emperor and is said to be one of his finest.
Art in motion
In Gallery 2, patrons can listen to poems composed by Emperor Qianlong. At the eighth section of the exhibition, which surveys the emperor’s love for calligraphy, one can try their hand at Chinese calligraphy using a stylus in the shape of a paintbrush.
The final section of Gallery 2 features 12 beds arranged in a circle where visitors can lie down to watch a video projection of Emperor Qianlong’s poem, Dream – which he wrote after the death of his wife Empress Xiaoxiao Chun.
The multimedia installation is a collaborative work between Chair Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University’s Academy Of Visual Arts Jeffrey Shaw and artist Sarah Kenderdine.
A gallery dedicated to ceramics on Level 2 – themed “Clay To Treasure: Ceramics From The Palace Museum Collection” – houses 169 spectacular works from the Palace Museum, 66 of which are grade-one national treasures.
The exhibition ends with an interactive space where patrons can design their own digital imperial porcelains.
Eight ancestor portraits and sketches of the Qing rulers are exhibited at Gallery 4, themed “Encountering The Majestic: Portraits Of Qing Emperors And Empresses”.
For art lovers, this exhibition explores the development of the portraits through the Qing dynasty, the symbolism they embody and their function in ancestral rites.
In this exhibition, visitors can also have their faces digitally superimposed onto royal portraits via the interactive screens installed.
Decoding the past
Serving as a bridge linking the past to the present and future, Gallery 5, “The Quest For Originality: Contemporary Design And Traditional Craft In Dialogue”, decodes the influence of ancient Chinese designs in contemporary Hong Kong.
Bringing together over 90 items from the Palace Museum, the exhibition allows visitors to understand the connection between contemporary designs and ancient craftsmanship, the origins of Chinese designs and the influence of Chinese craftsmanship on the contemporary world.
In the late 19th century, Hong Kong became a hub for collecting Chinese art.
During that period, trade art was the most popular and distinctive form of art. The sixth gallery, “Private To Public: The History Of Chinese Art Collecting In Hong Kong”, houses significant Chinese works during this period.
Exhibits include a painting known as The Matilde Moored In Hong Kong Harbour – believed to have been completed around 1850 during the earliest years of Hong Kong’s colonial period – porcelain, stoneware and silverware.
In efforts to celebrate Chinese culture and connect time-honoured traditions to Hong Kong’s modern art scene, the Hong Kong Palace Museum commissioned six local artists to create multimedia works inspired by treasures of the Forbidden City.
A highlight from the show includes GayBird Leung’s A Grandiose Fanfare which reimagines Qing Dynasty court music through its 31 audio channels and kinetic installation.
There is also Joseph Chan’s enormous Clock Of Nature built from over 3,700 parts. The work is inspired by timepieces from the Qing court’s collection.
According to museum guest curator Grace Cheng, the futuristic design of the exhibits consisting of dark walls and neon arrows is an attempt at attracting younger crowds.
In an interview with China Daily, Cheng noted that most children find objects contained in glass boxes to be “boring” yet they would “run around, jump and touch” works in Gallery 7.
“While art can reach out to everyone, the challenge lies in being able to translate and talk to people in ways that they understand,” she said.
The final two galleries (Gallery 8 and 9) are dedicated to special shows organised by the Hong Kong Palace Museum or conducted in partnership with renowned cultural institutions to present the highest-quality exhibitions that balance the artistic, academic, and historical elements.
An upcoming exhibition set to take place at Gallery 8 from April 14 to Aug 14 is “Cartier And Women”, organised and curated by the museum with support from Cartier.
Presenting around 300 Cartier items including jewellery, timepieces and archival records, this show is set to be the world’s first major exhibition on the role and influence of women in Cartier’s 176-year history. It will also explore the influence of Chinese aesthetics on women’s lifestyle and global fashion in general.
For added glamour, luxury jewellery owned by movie stars Brigitte Lin, Carina Lau, Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly will also feature in this upcoming Hong Kong Palace Museum exhibition.
While waiting for the fashion exhibit to arrive, patrons can drop by Gallery 9 where a show, themed “Radiance: Ancient Gold From The Hong Kong Palace Museum And The Mengdiexuan Collection”, will run until Sept 25.
Featuring more than 200 sets of ancient artefacts donated by owners of the Mengdiexuan collection, Betty Lo and Kenneth Chu, this is the first special exhibition of the Hong Kong Palace Museum’s own collection.
The show is divided into three sections, all offering visitors an incredible display of gold objects including exquisite accessories worn by nobles and the luxurious ornaments that adorned their carriages.
The Hong Kong Palace Museum and the art museum M+ are the main attractions of the 40ha, multibillion-dollar West Kowloon Cultural District development, designed as a world-class arts hub.
More info: hkpm.org.hk.
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