Orientations is a bimonthly print magazine published in Hong Kong and distributed worldwide since 1969. It is an authoritative source of information on the many and varied aspects of the arts of East and Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East, from the latest scholarly research to market analysis and current news.

A digital subscription gives you access to back issues of Orientations from 2019. For a print subscription which comes with complimentary digital access, please visit our website at www.orientations.com.hk.

Latest Issue

Behind an unassuming door of a neoclassical building that overlooks the Rosenborg Castle Gardens in Copenhagen is The David Collection, one of the finest collections of Islamic art in Europe. Director Kjeld von Folsach shares how the decision was made to expand the Islamic collection when this was not the collecting focus of the museum’s founder, Christian Ludvig David (1878–1960). The ‘Fighting, Hunting, Impressing: Arms and Armour from the Islamic World, 1500–1850’ exhibition is due to open on 26 March, featuring objects that were all lent from collections within Denmark.

In the first article of a three-part series on jades from the Qianlong (1735– 96) era, we focus on the emperor’s appreciation of carvings with a picturesque quality, which he called ‘mood of painting’. A previously unpublished painting from the Edo period (1603–1868) by an anonymous artist tells the legend of Cheng Ying, Chujiu, and the assassin Yu Rang from China’s Spring and Autumn period (722–481 BCE). This tale of two loyal retainers who saved the orphaned son of their murdered lord so that he can one day avenge his father’s death and retake power is unfamiliar to many art historians as it is infrequently represented in paintings.

More than 100 prints by Saitō Kiyoshi (1907–97) have been donated to the Ringling Museum of Art by Robyn and Charles Citrin. While Saito experimented with abstraction, his best-known body of work is the ‘Winter in Aizu’ series, which draws upon themes of landscapes and rural customs and subjects from his hometown. In March, the museum will open a major exhibition of the works, titled ‘Saitō Kiyoshi: Graphic Awakening’.

Japanese ceramics were heavily influenced by Chinese and Korean traditions and also by Western aesthetics after the second half of the 19th century. We interview Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz, who systematically acquired the largest private collection of museum-quality Japanese modern and contemporary ceramics outside of Japan. The collection ranges from pieces that echo traditional works to those that display modern sensibilities.