Please join Dr. Roz Hammers in a presentation on the tiger in Chinese art to ring in the felicitous Lunar New Year of the Tiger! Celebrating the representation of the tiger from early days to pre-Ming, this informal talk will consider the role of the tiger and related feline friends in Chinese painting and other media. The tiger, initially regarded as a fierce and terrifying foe, could also be envisioned to serve as a protective guardian with apotropaic properties in art. The powerful feline appeared as a symbol emblazoned on paintings, clothing, doorways, tomb walls, and other places, visually lending its power to those who sought it. This talk takes a light-hearted look at the beauty of tigers while at the same time exploring the formation of humane qualities associated with them, a trope that confers majestic status on them.

The Speaker

Dr Hammers conducts research on the history of Chinese art and art theory with a specialty in the representations of labor and imagery that draws upon technology and the production of knowledge. Her book Pictures of Tilling and Weaving: Art, Labor and Technology in Song and Yuan China (Hong Kong University Press, 2011) is a recipient of the College Art Association’s Millard Meiss prize. She recently published a monograph on the Qing-dynasty Pictures of Tilling and Weaving, entitled The Imperial Patronage of Labor Genre Paintings in Eighteenth-Century China (Routledge, 2021). Dr Hammers is an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Hong Kong.

Time: 7.00pm - 8.00pm HK time (11.00am UK time)

Venue: Online on Zoom, please sign up to receive the link

Admission: No change. Please register your attendance in advance

Booking: Please email membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk in advance to register your attendance