Page 22 - Sotheby's Sir Quo Wei Lei Collection Oct. 3, 2018

Q.W. Lee as Collector

One day when the local gazetteer of Hong Kong is written, there will be a major entry
on the life and work of Lee Quo-Wei, detailing his personal achievements and his many
contributions to Hong Kong in public life.
One of Q.W.’s activities not in the public eye was his collecting of Chinese art. Like other
collectors in Hong Kong, some of his acquisitions came from international auctions
and dealers, but he seldom, if ever, travelled for that. He did it through trusted agents.
The greater part of his collection was made personally on weekends on Cat Street
(Upper and Lowe Lascar Row). Particularly through the 1970s, one would find him on
a Saturday or Sunday sitting and chatting with the owner of one of the older (usually
second generation) Cat Street shops – perpetuating the kind of collector-dealer
relationship that has largely since disappeared. This scene also demonstrated one of the
admirable aspects of Q.W.’s personality - he was totally at ease with anyone from any
walk of life on any kind of occasion. Apart from an active interest in art, his Cat Street
visits were perhaps also one way of relaxing from his many heavy duties.
Q.W.’s collection also reflects a local tradition. His taste was for fine porcelain of the
Ming and Qing dynasties. This had been the case for earlier generations of Cantonese
collectors. However, the type of jade carvings in his collection could not have been
acquired by earlier generations, simply because they were not available before the end
of the Qing dynasty. The carving of sizeable pieces of white jade only began in the reign
of the Qianlong Emperor, after he retained the control of Khotan, where the jade came
from, in the second half of the 18th century. In the early 20th century, a large number
of jade carvings in the style that began in the imperial workshops of Qianlong began to
emerge on the market, mostly carved by workers released from the palace workshops.
A small number actually came out of the Palace towards the end of the Qing dynasty,
and also afterwards until the Government took control of the Forbidden City and
established the Palace Museum. Most of the Qianlong-style jade carvings that came out
of Beijing in the early 20th century were purchased by American collectors and now in
museums. The pieces in Q.W.’s collection are amongst the relatively few items still in
private hands.
This catalogue of the sale of Q.W. Lee’s collection is not just the record of another
collection. It contains clues to the taste and cultural activities of the man himself and, by
extension, the Cantonese tradition of art collection as preserved in Hong Kong through
the 20th century.

James C.Y. Watt