The Hong Kong Museum of Art on Friday launched a new exhibition of 490 sets of Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Fuyun Xuan Collection, which is the most extensive and comprehensive of its kind ever received by a museum in Hong Kong.

Titled Art of Gifting: The Fuyun Xuan Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, the exhibition is also one of the activities in the Chinese Culture Promotion Series.

The HKMoA will continue to collaborate with local collectors, making the city an important international hub for Chinese art collections and exhibitions and telling good stories of China from Hong Kong's unique curatorial perspective. 

Liu Ming-kwong, Director of Leisure and Cultural Services

The snuff bottles are donated by Christopher Sin and Josephine Sin, the local collector couple who established the Fuyun Xuan Collection. It is recognized as one of the most important private collections of snuff bottles in the world.

In her donation message, Josephine Sin said she entrusted Sin's lifetime treasured collection to the museum to provide the public with the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of this unique form of Chinese art with the hope of honoring and expanding his legacy.

Sin's collection is recognized as one of the most important private collections of snuff bottles, Liu Ming-kwong, director of Leisure and Cultural Services, said during the opening ceremony of the exhibition on Thursday, adding that his lifetime efforts have profoundly contributed to the promotion of the art of Chinese snuff bottles.

The HKMoA will continue to collaborate with local collectors, making the city an important international hub for Chinese art collections and exhibitions and telling good stories of China from Hong Kong's unique curatorial perspective, added Liu.

Despite being petite in size, snuff bottles cover a wide range of materials and craftsmanship, including jade, porcelain, glassware, lacquerware, calabash, enamelware, and inside-painting techniques, making them a unique fascination in Chinese art and craft history.