Media
UMAG to show the world’s largest collection of
“Nestorian Crosses of the Yuan Dynasty”
10 Jun 2015
More than 700 pieces of re-installed Nestorian Crosses will be on view at the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) from June 10, 2015 onwards. A series of events will be in place which includes an international 3-day conference on Jing Jiao on June 10 – 12, 2015 and a public talk on Christianity in China in the Tang and Yuan Dynasties on June 13, 2015.
An opening ceremony of the exhibition was held at UMAG today (June 10). Officiating guests include Representative of the Church of the East Rev Ephraim Alkhas, Patron of the HKU Museum Society Dr. Christina Mathieson, and Chairman of the HKU Museum Society Mrs. Yvonne Choi. The ceremony was hosted by UMAG Director Dr. Florian Knothe. Lecture on “What does the Jing Jiao, or Church of the East in China, Means for Us Today?” was given by Rev Ephraim Alkhas after the opening ceremony.
The University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) Nestorian crosses were assembled by a Mr. F. A. Nixon who served as a British postal commissioner in Beijing in the 1930s and 1940s. Subsequently the collection was acquired by the Lee Hysan Foundation and donated to Hong Kong University in 1961.
Nestorian bronze crosses were cast in the Ordos region in north-west China (Inner Mongolia) during the Yuan dynasty (1272–1368). They measure between 3 and 8 cm in height, are flat plaque-like ornaments with an outline in high relief and have a loop on the back suggesting that they were used as personal seals and were worn on the body. The loop facilitates a strapping to human clothing or girdles. The fine motifs of the cast Christian and Buddhist symbols and the rare survival of red-coloured ink deposits in intermittent lower parts of the design, suggested that these seals were used as chops and transferred their individual designs by printing them on other matters. Although all crosses are cast, the Nestorian crosses all seem to be unique and are, in fact, characteristic for their individual designs.
Stylistically, all crosses fall into 4 different categories, many with mixed Christian and Buddhist motifs in the same artefact. The majority are executed in crucifix form—hence the group description as ‘crosses’—with either flat or round ends. Other ‘crosses’ in fact take the shape of animals, predominantly birds, but also hares and fish, as well as geometrical patterns, such as sun-like designs and miscellaneous Chinese seal-like forms.
Early cruciform shapes appeared in Quanzhou in Fujian province as part of the stylistic repertoire in Manichaeism that, like Nestorianism, preached Western Christian believes, also in the Ordos region, and declined after the 14th century. The bronze plaques are predominantly Maltese crosses with four equally long arms extending from a centre square or circle. Other important examples are Syrian crosses in which the arms are connected with curved or straight bars. One often found detail in Nestorian crosses is the swastika—both left- and right-turning—a symbol found in Buddhism since the first century AD. The swastika is regularly represented as the central part of the cross that thereby becomes hybrid in character and specific to the Nestorians. In many of the cruciform shapes bands connect the four extremities or petals of the cross. These seem to symbolize radiating sunbeams and, if so, make reference to the Chinese name or its literary translation, of Nestorianism as Jing Jiao, or ‘luminous religion’.
Other ‘crosses’ recall the shapes of birds—single or double—as one bird with two heads or as a pair of intertwined birds. Both the double-headed design and the double birds repeat the strict symmetry of the cruciform shapes as well as echoing the geometry known in Persian art. Therefore, this stylistic feature may also be a possible cultural influence introduced to China by Silk Road travellers and known to the Ordos Nestorians.
Today’s extensive re-display is generously sponsored by the HKU Museum Society.
Meanwhile, fifty Nestorian Crosses were lent to the famous Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence earlier this year and are now part of the temporary exhibition “L’Arte di Francesco”.
Details of the Exhibitions
Period: June 10, 2015 (Wed) onwards
Opening Hours:
09:30 – 18:00 (Mon to Sat)
13:00 – 18:00 (Sun)
Closed on University and Public Holidays
Venue: 1/F Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam
Tel/Email: (852) 2241 5500 (General Enquiry) / museum@hku.hk
Fees: Free Admission
Website: www.umag.hku.hk/en/
International Conference on Jing Jao
Date: June 10 – 12, 2015
Venue: The University of Hong Kong (June 10 & 12, 2015) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (June 11, 2015)
Registration required and now open*: Please visit the Conference website:
http://www.hkihss.hku.hk/events/jingjiao2015/index.html
*Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information, please refer to Nestorian Crosses Events.
Joint HKUMS-UMAG Public Lecture
Topic: Journey to the East: Christianity in China in the Tang and Yuan Dynasties
Date: June 13, 2015 (Sat)
Time: 15:00 – 16:30
Venue: 1/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, HKU
Language: English
Cost: Free admission. All are welcome.
Speaker: Dr. Glen L. Thompson is the Academic Dean and Prof. of New Testament and Historical Theology at the Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong. He has lectured internationally on the history and spread of Christianity, and the cultural exchanges resulting from it. He is an expert on the Church of the East (Jing Jiao- Nestorianism).
For more information, please refer to Nestorian Crosses Events.
Public Guided Visit
To coincide with the “Nestorian Crosses of the Yuan Dynasty” exhibition, UMAG will hold a number of public guided visits. All are welcome. Please click on the dates and register to join.
18 Jun 2015 (Thu) 13:00 Cantonese
25 Jun 2015 (Thu) 13:00 Putonghua
9 Jul 2015 (Thu) 13:00 Cantonese
16 Jul 2015 (Thu) 13:00 Putonghua
Fees: Free
Registration: Online registration will be available from the 15 May 2015 13:00 until 3 working days before the tour.
Guided Tour for Schools
The exhibition will involve dedicated education and outreach activities. Our museum welcomes all school groups as well as tertiary institutions to request guided tours led by trained docents during our touring hours (Monday – Friday, 09:00 – 17:00). Guided tours are available in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. To request an appointment, please contact Miss Elena Cheung on 2241-5512 or elenac@hku.hk for booking and further information.
Connect with UMAG on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/umag.hku
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UMAG_HKU
Weibo: http://www.weibo.com/5411839295/profile?topnav=1&wvr=6
About University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong (UMAG)
UMAG was founded in 1953 as the Fung Ping Shan Museum. It was originally established as the Fung Ping Shan Library in 1932 in honour of its benefactor. For more information on UMAG, please refer to the document UMAG document.
Media enquiries:
UMAG Communication Officer Miss Elena Cheung, Tel: (852) 2241 5512, Email: elenac@hku.hk