Between November 22 and 23, the International Conference “Unfolding the Coromandel Screen: Visual Mobility, Inscribed Objecthood, and Global Lives” was held at City University of Hong Kong. The conference was a resounding success, attracting over 100 in-person attendees and more than 250 participants from around the globe via Zoom. As the first large-scale event dedicated to the Coromandel screen, it served as a remarkable gathering for art historians, museum curators, collectors, and local researchers and students. City University of Hong Kong was honored to welcome esteemed collectors and conservators, including Madame Nicole Brugier (Paris) and Mr. Jorge Welsh (Works of Art, London/Lisbon), along with professors and curators from various Asian art collections across the United States, Europe, Japan, and mainland China. Keynote speeches were delivered by Jan Stuart from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington D.C. and Stéphane Castelluccio from CNRS, Centre André Chastel in Paris.

With the support of museums in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, conference participants, along with invited museum and conservation specialists, participated in a traveling seminar that included visits to collections related to Coromandel screens. This collaboration between City University of Hong Kong and museums in the Greater Bay Area marks a promising beginning for future partnerships. Notably, the CUHK Art Museum opened its conservation workshop to conference participants and arranged a special briefing by Ms. Chunrong Hua from The Palace Museum, Beijing, who is also a J.S. Lee Memorial Fellow at the CUHK Art Museum. Additionally, the Guangdong Provincial Museum showcased its Coromandel screen in full length for the first time.

The events were sponsored by Bei Shan Tang Foundation in conjunction with the Department of Chinese and History at City University of Hong Kong, celebrating the department’s tenth anniversary.

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