The University of Queensland has boosted its collection of Chinese antiquities with 20 new pieces donated from Hong Kong medical specialist and UQ graduate Dr Nat Yuen.
Dr Yuen, who studied medicine with UQ Chancellor Sir Llew Edwards, has been donating Chinese relics to the university since 1994.
His latest donation includes valuable blue and white porcelain from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and two scrolls of contemporary Chinese Calligraphy.
In total, there are 86 pieces in the Nat Yuen Collection made up of ancient pottery, fine ceramics, figurines, bronze tripods, sword blades and daggers.
The collection, which spans most periods of the 5000 years of Chinese culture, has an estimated value of more than $1.5 million. UQ owns 65 of the pieces with 21 still on loan.
One of the oldest pieces is a 4500-year-old jar from the Neolitihic period.
Dr Yuen said he wanted UQ to have a good Chinese antiquities museum so more people could study and enjoy the pieces which would promote Australian and Chinese cultural exchanges.
He has been a keen collector of Chinese antiquities since the 1960s when he inherited several pieces of porcelain and paintings from his father.
He said he was fascinated by the colour of the antiquities and how they were made for that time.
“Even now today it may be difficult to reproduce some of them,” Dr Yuen said.
The Nat Yuen Collection can be viewed by the public in the bottom level of The Mayne Centre, at UQ’s St Lucia campus.
Media: contact Mayne Centre Director Ross Searle on (phone: 07 3365 3046, r.searle@uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (phone: 3365 2619, email: m.holland@uq.edu.au) Photos available from Diana Lilley at UQ Images on (phone: 3365 2753, email: d.lilley@uq.edu.au)
