Page 6 - Sotheby's Part I Collection of Sir Joeseph Hotung Collection CHINESE ART , Oct. 9, 2022

SIR JOSEPH HOTUNG

Henry Howard-Sneyd
Chairman of Asian Art, Europe and Americas

The celebrated name ‘Hotung’ holds a special resonance in patronage of the British Museum, in particular, has been long
Hong Kong where Sir Joseph’s grandfather, Sir Robert, made and profound, resulting in the beautiful Asian galleries that we
the family’s fortunes as the most successful citizen of his day. see today. His donation to that museum of his two focussed
Friend of George Bernard Shaw among other luminaries, ‘public’ collections will be seminal in its history of representing
he was knighted twice in 1915 and 1955. Sir Robert himself Chinese art. The collection of early Chinese blue and white
was a collector and his donation on his death of a part of his porcelain (a field in which China lead the world by several
collection to the city of Hong centuries) adds to an already
Kong, when allied with that There was also a side to his collecting that strong collection of Chinese
of Sir Catchick Paul Chater, porcelain at the museum. That
allowed the formation of the was more personal and more specifically of jades through the ages
City’s own collection that has aesthetic in its focus, creating in his renders the museum collection
grown to become the seminal beautiful London home a deep sense of Sir one of the strongest in the
Hong Kong Museum of Art. world in that field. The book
Joseph himself, […] The result is an elegant authored by Prof. Dame Jessica
The philanthropic gene blend of a scholarly mind with the aesthetic Rawson is a seminal work in
surfaced particularly strongly of an English gentleman that might be said the study of Chinese jade. Blue and white porcelain in Sir Joseph Hotung's study
in Sir Joseph whose interests He himself also followed his Оᒿࡠᐌɻࣣגʫڡڀନ௓ΐ
spanned art, education, to describe Sir Joseph himself in life. grandfather’s support of Hong
medicine and human rights. Kong when he took up the
While his interest and engagement was impactful in each, he role of first Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Development
kept the different worlds very separate and while his support Council in 1994. He was also a generous donor towards the
was deeply valued and opinion regularly sought, those with new Shanghai Museum opened in 1996 to much fanfare and a
whom he engaged rarely knew much of his other passions. His gallery in that museum still bears his name. However, there was also a side to his collecting that was more buying pieces from some of the best collections is particularly
personal and more specifically aesthetic in its focus, creating visible in the European furniture and works of art that are
in his beautiful London home a deep sense of Sir Joseph steeped in distinguished history, for example: the pair of silver
himself, his character revealed and enhanced through the candelabra, designed as part of a set of four by Robert-Joseph
art with which he chose to surround himself. The classical Auguste (1723-1805) and which were ordered by George III,
surroundings of an 18th century London town house provides King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
rooms of warmth and yet supreme elegance. Basing his for his electoral palace in Hanover; or the set of ten figured
decorative scheme on his own eye and sense of beauty, Sir walnut dining chairs once in the collection of the Dukes of
Joseph juxtaposed 18th century English furniture, naturally at Leeds at Hornby Castle; the striking pair of neo-classical
home in the surroundings of the building, with 16th and 17th torcheres by Mayhew and Ince supplied to the Earls of Kerry
century Chinese furniture made from the celebrated Huang for their London house on Portman Square; or the pair of
Huali wood beloved of scholars mahogany stools commissioned
and wealthy individuals of that Always with a mind on the provenance by Thomas Chippendale’s great
burgeoning period in Chinese of the piece and a respect for its previous patron, Sir Edward Knatchbull
social history. The patinas existence, he took his position as a which have been reunited in Sir
of the woods from two such Joseph’s collection. In the field
disparate cultures, match and custodian of great art to be treasured of Chinese art he purchased the
meld together in an incredibly and maintained for future generations of bronze dragon support and the
harmonious whole, particularly humanity very seriously. inlaid silver corner piece that
when interspersed with paintings came from one of the greatest
by Vuillard, Degas and Matisse, European palaces of art, Palais
blue and white porcelain, and unique works of art from China’s Stoclet, the collection of Baron Adolphe Stoclet, the banker;
ancient history. The result is an elegant blend of a scholarly and the beautiful seated gilt-bronze Avalokitesvara from the
mind with the aesthetic of an English gentleman that might be Dali Kingdom in the 12th Century which was one of the most
said to describe Sir Joseph himself in life. important pieces in the collection of Xintian Jicang (also
known in Japan as ‘Nitta’) the Chinese collector of great
Always with a mind on the provenance of the piece and a buddhist art who spent most of his life in Japan, but a large
respect for its previous existence, he took his position as a portion of whose collection now rests in the Collection of the
custodian of great art to be treasured and maintained for National Palace Museum, Taiwan.
Sir Robert Hotung, grandfather of Sir Joseph Hotung Sir Robert Hotung with George Bernard Shaw future generations of humanity very seriously. His focus on
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10 I FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUING ༉းྡ፽ʫ࢙ሗᓭᚎ SOTHEBYS.COM/HK1293 THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF THE LATE SIR JOSEPH HOTUNG I 11