THE LITERARY SLEUTH
The metal rattrap was large and sat on the cornice like an ornament. When I questioned the Indian porter about its use, he did not mince his words. ‘Rats,’ he said. I was in a temple town in Tamil Nadu… Continue reading
DECEMBER 2017
Cover: London Auctions Maintain Momentum for Chinese Art. In the People section: the Mumbai-based painter Nalini Malani. An interview with the first Asian Director of the Sydney Biennale, Mami Kataoka. The Sri Lankan/Australian artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran.
Features: The reopening of The Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery at the British Museum. Spirited Creatures at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The MqJ Collection, Ming dynasty, classical Chinese furniture. Dreams of Kings: jade at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City. Shamanism – Making the World Right – in Los Angeles. In the Travel section: On the pilgrim’s trail in Japan – the Komano Kodo Trail. Spending time in Vietnam. In the Books section: The Literary Sleuth, Claire Scobie explains her in South India. Hmong Rituals in Northern Thailand. Our annual book choices for 2017. Beyond Angkor, Cambodian sculpture from Banteay Chhmar. Japanese Modern and Contemporary art at the MFA, Boston. Faces of China, portrait painting from the Ming and Qing dynasties in Berlin. Kim Sooja – Weaving the World in Liechtenstein. Ayurvedic Man at the Wellcome Institute in London. Listings. Islamic Arts Diary.
CHINESE FURNITURE
The MQJ Collection exhibition was first seen in Hong Kong in October during Sotheby’s autumn sale series. MQJ, short for Mu Qu Ju (The Lodge of Wood Delights), is the name chosen by the late Wang Shixiang, the renowned scholar… Continue reading
BOOKS 2017
CHINA Chinese Ivory Carvings: The Sir Victor Sassoon Collection by Rose Kerr, Phillip Allen and Shih Ching-Fei, Scala Arts & Heritage, ISBN 9781785510854, £60 Sir Victor Sassoon (1881-1961) lived an extraordinary and colourful life and left a remarkable legacy. He… Continue reading
Vietnam
On my first morning in Hanoi I was woken by church bells from the nearby French Gothic Cathedral of St Joseph. The sensation of having awoken in France was heightened by a breakfast of strong, dark coffee made with a… Continue reading