Hong Kong Palace Museum unveils rare Chinese silk treasures on National Day

The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) opens a captivating exhibition of 100 Chinese textile treasures from the renowned Chris Hall Collection on October 1, showcasing silk artifacts spanning centuries and offering interactive experiences to explore their historical significance.

Titled “A History of China in Silk: The Chris Hall Collection at the Hong Kong Palace Museum,” the exhibition features Chinese textiles dating from the Warring States period to the early 20th century.

The exhibited treasures, donated by Hall, who has lived in Hong Kong for 55 years, will be placed within the development of silk within the broader context of Chinese history across five thematic sections.

Highlights of the exhibition include the earliest textile on display, a piece featuring facing dragons, phoenixes, and geometric decorations from the Warring States period. 

Other essential pieces are a robe with pairs of facing lions in pearl roundels from the Tang dynasty, a coat with ox-horn dragons from the Ming dynasty, and a large group of Ming and Qing dynasty rank badges.

In December 2024, Hall pledged his collection, which stands among the world’s most comprehensive and significant collections of historical Chinese textiles, comprising nearly 3,000 works, to the HKPM. The collection will be formally donated to the museum in 2034.

 “For four decades, I have been collecting and preserving precious Chinese textiles with the hope of returning them to their birthplace for study and display,” said Hall.

The exhibition also offers interactive experiences. A Daoist ritual robe embroidered with the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water is accompanied by an interactive display that utilizes high-resolution imaging to reveal intricate details and decipher the Daoist universe depicted on the garment.

Visitors can appreciate rank badges up close and create their own personalized digital versions through an interactive installation, which also explains the Qing bureaucratic system and the symbolism of the birds and animals depicted.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum will leverage its resources to offer several public and scholarly programs and will publish essays by an international team of scholars and curators on the history of Chinese textiles.

Additionally, the HKPM will also utilize the platform of “The Hong Kong Palace Museum – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Joint Chinese Textile Centre,” established in 2024, to study and preserve Hall’s collection.