China Seminar | 14 May 2009

Treasures at Hand: Honolulu Academy of Arts' Chinese Collection

Shawn Eichman

The Honolulu Academy of Arts has one of the premier collections of Chinese art in the United States. Beginning with just over two hundred items given to the Academy by its founder, Anna Rice Cooke, when the museum opened to the public in 1927, the collection has grown to over four thousand works of art ranging from the Neolithic period to the 21st century. The Academy is world-renowned for Chinese paintings from the Ming and Qing dynasties, but also has many hidden treasures of ceramics, sculpture, furniture, lacquer, bronzes, jades, and other objects. In this informal talk, Dr. Eichman will provide a broad overview of the Academy’s Chinese holdings, including many exceptionally rare works, some of which have never before been photographed and have not been on public display in decades.

Shawn Eichman is Curator of Asian Art at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. He received degrees from Georgetown University, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. His professional experience includes the Art Institute of Chicago, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.