Bulletin Summer 1975

of the Art Gallery O f the twelve exhibitions held since the opening of the Art Gallery on 27th September, 1971, all except one were loan exhibitions. However, an art gallery must not rely solely on private loans but must make acquisitions of its own. To this end an Acquisition Fund Committee was set up in early 1973. Through the concerted efforts of its Chairman, the Chairman of the Management Committee and the Curator, enough funds were raised to take over the entire Jen Yu-wen collection of paintings and calligraphy by Kwang t ung artists at a special price. The choice was a happy one, for the Jen collection is the most extensive of its kind and covers a field hitherto not fully explored. Not only is it within the research capability of the Art Gallery, but it also has a local context. With Jen's collection as the nucleus, an exhibition of "Landscape paintings by Kwangtung artists of the Ming and Ch'ing period" was held from June to August 1973. This was the first occasion the Art Gallery could exhibit its own acquisitions. A few other purchases were made recently, including a circular silver box of the T ' ang Dynasty, an extremely rare item, from London. These are made along the following guidelines: (1) The item should be supplementary to the existing collection if possible; (2) It must be rare and not available on loan from private collectors ； (3) It must serve a purpose in either the teaching or research programme of the Art Gallery and the Fine Arts Department of the University. All purchases must be recommended by the Curator, endorsed by outside assessors and approved by the Management Committee. Apart from donations in cash, donations in kind have also been regularly received. As early as August 1973, a very important collection was donated by the Lee family, consisting of about 300 seals, mostly dating from Han and Pre-Han periods, a rubbing of a long-lost Han Stele, the Hua-Shan Temple Stele, and several valuable paintings by the Yangchow Eccentrics of the Ch'ing Dynasty. Also worthy of special mention are one Covered silver box with incised decoration, Tang Landscape with figures Fan, by Su Lui-p'eng (1810-1860) Formerly in the F en Y u-wen Collection A Sung rubbing of the Hua-Shan Temple Stele Presented by the Lee Family 16