Meiyintang Collection
The Meiyintang Collection is a collection of Chinese ceramics and related objects. It is regarded as one of the largest private collections of Chinese ceramics which originated in the West during the 20th century. Meiyintang means Hall of rosaries.
History
The Meiyintang Collection was built up over more than half a century by Gilbert Zuellig (1918-2009) and Stephen Zuellig ( * 1917 ). The two brothers were born in Manila and began in the late 1950s to systematically collect Chinese art. Gilbert Zuellig specialized in early pottery, stoneware and ceramics from the Neolithic Age to the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties. Stephen Zuellig collected newer porcelain of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties and archaic bronzes. They were assisted in their collecting activities by the art expert Edward T. Chow.
Became internationally known collection in 1994 by the publication of the catalog by Regina Krahl. Exhibitions with objects in the collection were subsequently in the British Museum in London ( 1994), at the Sporting d' Hiver in Monte Carlo ( 1996), the Asia Society (1995) and the China Institute (2001) in New York, the Musée Cernuschi in Paris (1999) and the Musée du Président Jacques Chirac in Sarran, Corrèze (2009 ) are shown.
In the years 2011 and 2012, part of a collection of objects from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong was auctioned. Gilbert Zuelligs part of the collection of over 1,600 objects, however, was transferred to the Meiyintang Foundation 2003. The collection of Meiyintang Foundation was on permanent loan to the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, where it is publicly available since 11 January 2013.