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Double Bill: Silk Road Map and Clock Collection at Science Museum

2019-01-29

Maritime Silk Road Society (MSRS) and Savantas Liberal Arts Academy (SLAA) co-organized a guided tour of “Treasures of Time Exhibition” and the viewing of “Landscape Map of the Silk Road Exhibition” to appreciate The Landscape Map of the Silk Road on 29 January. Over 30 participants joined the event.

The Ming Dynasty’s handscroll map once has been lost overseas while more than a hundred mechanical clocks have been collected in The Palace Museum. These two kinds of treasures have been originally separated by thousands of miles, but in a rare coincidence, they are co-exhibited in Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Science Museum. The participants had the opportunity to visit two exhibitions at the same time.

The Landscape Map of the Silk Road is a map that was drawn on a silk handscroll in blue and green landscape painting style. The map, which is about 30 metres long and 0.6 metres wide, was once held in other countries. Finally, Mr Hui Wing Mau, Hong Kong’s renowned entrepreneur, acquired the map and donated it to The Palace Museum. Mr Hui is also an Honorary President of MSRS. According to researchers, the map was an imperial painting that belonged to the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty. It named over 200 cities, ranging from Jiayu Pass, Gansu province, in the east, to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in the west. This implies that the Chinese had a clear understanding of the Silk Road in the 16th century.

“Treasures of Time Exhibition” displays 120 magnificent clocks and watches from the collection of The Palace Museum. Some of the items in the collections were tributes from Britain, France and Switzerland, while others were manufactured by local craftsmen in the Workshops and in Guangzhou. Several British clocks, repaired just in recent years, are displayed outside The Palace Museum for the first time.

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