WHAT: “Pearls and Fisheyes: A New Take on Fakes” by art historian Alfreda Murck, an RASBJ online talk followed by Q&A
WHEN: Jan. 18, 2023, Wednesday, 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM Beijing Standard Time
MORE ABOUT THE EVENT: In the first decades of the twentieth century, Reverend DuBois Schanck Morris, while serving as a Presbyterian minister in Anhui Province, acquired almost 500 Chinese paintings. As a novice collector, he purchased some painting purportedly by famous masters that proved to be fake (a circumstance that befell collectors more knowledgeable than Rev. Morris). His collection, which he donated to Princeton University in the 1940s, is a case study of the techniques used to enhance paintings for the market. These techniques included reattributing paintings to famous scholars by changing or effacing the original signature, adding seals of prestigious collectors, repackaging scrolls with new labels, and creating testimonials of authenticity. Some outright forgeries in the collection demonstrate the useful concept of “functional authenticity”: accepting a spurious work in the style of a master because it fits expectations. Despite the dubious paintings—and partly because of them—the DuBois Schanck Morris collection is an important resource for research and exhibition.
This image is a spurious attribution to the Yuan dynasty master Zhao Mengfu, Judging a Horse (Xiang ma tu 相馬圖), undated; 17th–18th century.
HOW MUCH: This event is free for RASBJ members; RMB 50 for members of partner RAS branches; RMB 100 for non-members. Interested in becoming an RASBJ member? Please sign up at https://rasbj.org/membership/
HOW TO JOIN THE EVENT: Please click “Register” or “I will Attend” and follow the instructions. After successful registration you’ll receive a confirmation email with a link to join the event. If you seem not to have received it, please check your spam folder.
Members of partner RAS Branches: Please register 72 hours in advance to allow time for membership verification. You’ll received three emails from us: the first confirming receipt of your registration request, the second requesting payment, and the third confirming receipt of your payment, with a link to join the event. Please check your spam folder to ensure you see all RASBJ emails.
Following on from yesterday’s announcement of my Ultimate China Bookshelf column in conjunction with The China Project let’s kick off with Carl Crow’s 1937 classic, 400 Million Customers….click here
A new year and a new column from me – The Ultimate China Bookshelf in conjunction with The China Project – every week a new book. More details of the column, the Ultimate Shelf and the criteria here. It’s not a ranking but rather a selection of books that, whether we always fully appreciate it or not, have influenced our thinking about China today…Tomorrow I’ll post a link to the first book on the shelf…
Well, just one I reckon. I happened to note that among those books published in 1927 and now coming into the public domain according to US copyright law is HGW Woodhead’s The China Year Book 1926-1927. Now, anyone who has looked at early twentieth century Chinese history will know Woodhead – if you don’t then there is an article I wrote for Visualising China on him here. What I did not know was that as well as a larger-than-life Old China Hand, the editor of the Peking & Tientsin Times, and author of several books Woodhead was also awarded the Order of Leopold II – ‘an order of Belgium established in 1900 and named in honor of King Leopold II. It’s awarded for meritorious service to the sovereign of Belgium, and as a token of his personal goodwill to both Belgians and foreigners, as well as a diplomatic gift of merit.’ Not sure how many other Old China Hands were also Knights of King Leopold II?
Patricia O’Sullivan has been working away writing some amazing women’s history concerning Hong Kong for some time now. As a a writer and researcher on the lesser-known aspects of Hong Kong’s history prior to 1941 she stumbled upon an article concerning the death of her great-uncle in 1918 when he was an inspector in the Hong Kong Police, she quickly became immersed in the social history of colonial Hong Kong. Her research led to her first book, Policing Hong Kong: An Irish History.
She followed this up with a fascinating study of women and the courts in Hong Kong – Women, Crime and the Courts: Hong Kong 1841-1941.
Now, after a break, she’s returing to Hong Kong to speak to Annemarie Evans this weekend (7th & 8th Jan) on her RTHK Radio 3 program on women’s lives in HK’s first prison, also the subject of hertalk on 14th Jan at the TaiKwun arts centre, ‘Incarcerated Women: 90 yrs in Victoria Gaol’. On 12th Jan she is with other authors at the Bookazine branch in Princes Building for an informal session.
JAPANESE FORCES IN MONGOLIA, CHINA & TAIWAN; Range with 1936 plain censored unfranked PC to Tokyo from the inner Mongolian Expedition, 1938 env. (and contents) to Japan from the Shanghai Special Land Combat Forces with 1st Naval FPO marking on front, Jan. 1939 2s Japanese military PC to Japan from the Tanan Okamoto Force in Taiwan and a few others…
Early treaty port era stamps look very basic, but interesting. For instance this c.1865 stamp issued by Shanghai LPO (Local Post Office) and valued for 8 Candareens (a traditional measurement equal to approximately 378 milligrams). And with a dragon motif.
