Page 6 - Christie's Hong Kong Wang Zing Lou Collection May 30 2022

STAR BURSTS – A BRIEF VIEW OF WANG XING LOU

CHI FAN TSANG, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, ASIA PACIFIC

A collection often reveals a great deal about the philosophy and personality
of a collector. It takes a certain vision, immense passion, a dedicated
quest to search for objects, perseverance, and patience in building up a
group of treasures. Whilst these essential elements may be appealing to a
collector, they are not easy tasks to execute, let alone to accomplish. The
Master of Wang Xing Lou was remarkable in his foresight in collecting
early Qing dynasty imperial ceramics that were produced during the reigns
of three Qing emperors: Kangxi (r. 1662-1722) (fig. 1), Yongzheng (r. 1723-
1735) (fig. 2) and Qianlong (r. 1736-1795) (fig. 3). Collectively these three
emperors are commonly referred to as the ‘three generations of Qing’. In the
early 1990s, collecting in this area was particularly unusual as the Chinese
art market was predominantly looking for Song dynasty monochromes
and early Ming Dynasty blue and white ceramics. This category of Chinese
ceramics, at that time, tended to be considered by the mature and seasoned
collectors as ‘too young’. Perhaps to this generation of second half of 20th
Century collectors, the vestigial legacies of the Qing era probably still
resonated within their memories.

As a teenager, the Master of Wang Xing Lou was drawn to antiques and
frequently paced the lengths of Hollywood Road. With serendipity, after
a brief spell in banking, he became a dealer in the 1980s and even passed
up on the opportunity in joining an international auction house. It was in
the early 1990s that the aspiring young dealer decided to collect early Qing
Dynasty ceramics for their beauty, quality and techniques. He was also
fascinated by the culmination of influences and traditions the Qing potters
had adopted from an earlier Song, Yuan and Ming ceramics tradition, and at
the same time pioneered their own decorative styles. Drawing inspirations fig. 1 Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
from well-respected older generation of formidable Hong Kong based 圖一 北京故宮博物院藏品
dealers, who were also collectors in their own right such as Lai Tak and
Robert Chang, the Master of Wang Xing Lou followed very much in their
aspiration and tirelessly searched for quality and rarity. It was the Robert
Chang exhibition of important Chinese ceramics at Christie’s which opened
in London in June 1993 that convinced and assured the Collector of his own
collecting journey.

Lot 2701 Lot 2710
拍品 2701 號 拍品 2710 號
2