Cabinets of Curiosities in France and Hong Kong: An Exhibit of over 250 artefacts
CityU Exhibition Gallery, Kowloon Tong 
Why We Recommend it
This exhibit showcases centuries-old cabinets or small studies in which precious religious, royal and valuable items as well as unusual specimens from the natural world were stored.
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Description
The predecessors of museums, cabinets of curiosities were created by rulers and wealthy collectors, who stored valuable artefacts brought back from Asia, the Americas, Africa and Oceania to Europe by ocean-going explorers from the 16th to the 19th century.
Collectors amassed precious specimens, mechanical devices, artistic objects, and other foreign artefacts in order to recreate a microcosm of the universe in these cabinets. The beauty, strangeness, and rarity of these objects made them extremely valuable, and were displayed as “curios” in richly decorated cabinets by their owners to delight guests.
This exhibition, organised in partnership with Le French May, features over 250 natural and artificial artefacts, dating back to the 19th century. The curios are curated from 10 museums, galleries and private collections, and are showcased in Hong Kong for the first time.
Details
When: 26 May 2018 - 19 Aug 2018 Where: CityU Exhibition Gallery – 18/F, Lau Ming Wai Academic Building, Tat Chee Avenue – Kowloon Tong
