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Lot Essay
The owner of this painting Philip Mak, narrates in the following passage the mutual beneficial relationship between Professor Jao and him in helping each other in their quest of scholarship. The relationship has fostered a steadfast friendship, despite their age difference and their different fields of study.
"Professor Jao and I were colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1970's. He was teaching Chinese and literature while I was working in the Art Gallery (now renamed as Art Museum). We were also members of the Centre for Archaeology in the Institute of Chinese Studies. Besides his achievement in Dunhuang studies, Professor Jao is also an accomplished calligrapher, painter and well-known paleographer. He has published many papers on the study of oracle-bone writing of the Shang dynasty (1766-1121BC). His further pursuit of more ancient scripts of the Xia dynasty, brought us into frequent meetings.
I was in possession of a fine collection of Neolithic pottery shards and stone implements. It was given to me when Brother William left Hong Kong. He was an amateur archaeologist who collected ancient artifacts at the Neolithic sites in Lamma Island in the 1950's, before the establishment of the Hong Kong Archaeological Society. This collection provided a valuable source for Professor Jao's research, because some of the pottery shards were inscribed with ancient characters. Weekly Professor Jao came to my conservation laboratory to examine and decipher these paleographs. To facilitate his examination I cleaned the dirt and incrustations off the shards; and provided imaging by dark light and infrared. Subsequently Professor discovered several hundred characters pre-dating the oracle-bone scripts.
On the other hand, Professor Jao helped me in deciphering colophons and inscriptions on paintings and calligraphy written in the cursive/cursive running scripts with difficult recognizable characters. He continued helping me in this respect even after his retirement.
In 1975 the Art Gallery held an exhibition on the Paintings and Calligraphy by Ming Loyalists (I-min). Professor Jao wrote an introductory essay for the catalogue. Inspired by the literary and artistic ideals of these literati, he began painting in the literati style. He gifted this masterpiece of the period to me as the token of friendship."
The photography on the left was taken in 1997 at the preview of the exhibition of Landscape Paintings by Harold Wong. It was held at the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong where Philip Mak was then the curator. Professor Jao and Mak were viewing the artist's handscroll. They were discussing Wong's innovative technique of broken brush-strokes which might have been inspired by the French Impressionists.
"Professor Jao and I were colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1970's. He was teaching Chinese and literature while I was working in the Art Gallery (now renamed as Art Museum). We were also members of the Centre for Archaeology in the Institute of Chinese Studies. Besides his achievement in Dunhuang studies, Professor Jao is also an accomplished calligrapher, painter and well-known paleographer. He has published many papers on the study of oracle-bone writing of the Shang dynasty (1766-1121BC). His further pursuit of more ancient scripts of the Xia dynasty, brought us into frequent meetings.
I was in possession of a fine collection of Neolithic pottery shards and stone implements. It was given to me when Brother William left Hong Kong. He was an amateur archaeologist who collected ancient artifacts at the Neolithic sites in Lamma Island in the 1950's, before the establishment of the Hong Kong Archaeological Society. This collection provided a valuable source for Professor Jao's research, because some of the pottery shards were inscribed with ancient characters. Weekly Professor Jao came to my conservation laboratory to examine and decipher these paleographs. To facilitate his examination I cleaned the dirt and incrustations off the shards; and provided imaging by dark light and infrared. Subsequently Professor discovered several hundred characters pre-dating the oracle-bone scripts.
On the other hand, Professor Jao helped me in deciphering colophons and inscriptions on paintings and calligraphy written in the cursive/cursive running scripts with difficult recognizable characters. He continued helping me in this respect even after his retirement.
In 1975 the Art Gallery held an exhibition on the Paintings and Calligraphy by Ming Loyalists (I-min). Professor Jao wrote an introductory essay for the catalogue. Inspired by the literary and artistic ideals of these literati, he began painting in the literati style. He gifted this masterpiece of the period to me as the token of friendship."
The photography on the left was taken in 1997 at the preview of the exhibition of Landscape Paintings by Harold Wong. It was held at the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong where Philip Mak was then the curator. Professor Jao and Mak were viewing the artist's handscroll. They were discussing Wong's innovative technique of broken brush-strokes which might have been inspired by the French Impressionists.